The Marauders
by KieranDell1409
Summary: A collection of short stories about The Marauders, and their time at Hogwarts.
1. Meet the Marauders

Chapter 1: Meet the Marauders

**Author's note: Hey guys, time for a new fic. What am I going to do with this one? Honestly...I have no idea. I think I had ideas for it years ago, but I forgot what those were, and now I'm stuck with a fic that people kept voting for but was never quite popular enough to get made until now. So, what I'm going to do is this: a chapter from each of the Marauders point of view for each year they're in Hogwarts. Twenty eight chapters in all. If you have any ideas for a chapter you'd like to see, let me know. For now though, I'm going to get started, and hope this comes out alright. Here goes...**

"Well, here we are," said Fleamont Potter, guiding James to a spot between platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross Station. "Are you ready?"

James just stared at the solid brick pillar his father was showing him. "So, how's this work?" asked James. "Is it like the wall at Diagon Alley, where we just tap a few bricks and it opens up? How do we keep this secret from muggles?"

"James, don't worry about that," said Euphemia, standing next to her husband behind their son. "There are Ministry officials here to wipe the minds of any muggles that get suspicious, don't stress about it."

"That's right," said Fleamont. "All you have to do is go straight through that brick wall."

"And you're sure I won't crash?" asked James.

"Well, your mother and I never did when we went to Hogwarts, so I'm willing to bet you'll be fine too," said Fleamont. "Now, be sure to run at it if you're scared."

"I'll just crash worse if I do that," said James, lining up his trolley anyway. James sighed deeply and ran as fast as he could at the wall, trying to keep the trolley straight. James closed his eyes as the front of his trolley hit the wall, then opened them in surprise when he didn't hit anything. Instead, what he saw was a huge red steam train, with hundreds of people (mostly children) milling around.

James kept walking for a little bit, then looked back to see if his parents had come through after him to see him off. However, when he looked back, all he saw was an auburn haired girl about his age running through. James watched her go past, and noted that she looked a bit lost and confused as the crowd engulfed her. Maybe he should go talk to her...

"Hey James," said Fleamont, grabbing James's shoulder from behind, making him jump in surprise. "Sorry we weren't right behind you."

"We just saw a young muggle-born girl looking for the platform, and we felt the need to make sure she got on here safely first," said Euphemia. "Now where did she..." Euphemia looked around for a moment, before suddenly spotting her. "Ah, there she is, already getting on the train."

James looked over and saw the girl getting on the train, an older boy helping her with her trunk. 'Oh well,' thought James. 'So much for talking to her today. I'll never find her in this mess of people.'

"Well James, do you need a hand getting your things onto the train?" asked Fleamont.

"No, no, I should be fine," said James, trying to lug his trunk to the train himself. However, James wasn't a big kid, and could only shift the heavy box a few inches at a time.

Fleamont laughed, and picked up James's trunk with ease. "Come on kid, this way," he said, boarding the train and quickly finding an empty compartment. "Here you go James." Fleamont put the trunk down and gave his son a hug. "Have fun at school, son."

"Thanks dad," said James, hugging him back. "Say bye to mum for me."

"Of course," said Fleamont, getting up and leaving the train.

James took a seat near the window, watching the kids continue to board and parents saying goodbye. Before long, the train started to move. James looked out onto the platform, and saw his parents waving to him. James waved back until the train was out of the station, then sat back down. Suddenly, the door to his compartment burst open, and another kid about his age ran in, and slammed the door shut. "What the..." started James.

"SHH!" hushed the kid, ducking down below the level of the window.

"What did..." started James, but the other kid hushed him again. About two seconds later, a couple of larger boys stormed past the door, looking into compartments briefly trying to find something. One of them seemed to have rabbit ears instead of his normal ears, which James couldn't help but laugh at.

Soon, the boys had passed, but the other kid still planted himself in the corner. "Are they gone yet?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're gone," said James. "I assume that had something to do with you?"

"You saw it then," said the other boy. "Guess it was kind of hard to miss. Yeah, it was me."

"That was pretty funny," said James. "How'd you know how to do that already?"

"Oh, my family try to make sure we know how to do stuff like that as soon as we have a wand," said the boy. "I'm Sirius, by the way."

"Yeah, I believe you," said James. "So, what's your name?"

"I just told you, my name is Sirius," said Sirius. "Sirius Black."

"Oh, I thought..." started James, before shaking his head. "Never mind. I'm James Potter."

"Nice to meet you James," said Sirius, shaking his new friend's hand.

"So, you do know how to undo that spell, right?" asked James. "Because I don't like the idea of two first years trying to fight those guys."

"They'll probably go away on their own," said Sirius. "Or the school nurse can take care of it. Either way, they'll never figure it out."

"Let's hope not," said James, as the door to their compartment opened again. The two of them jumped in surprise, expecting it to be the kids from before, but it was another kid of around their age.

"Hey, do you guy mind if I join you?" asked the boy. "I'm trying to read, and there's these three guys running around yelling about some kid who gave one of them bunny ears."

"Wow, who could have done something like that?" asked Sirius. "Whoever it was must be a really talented, not to mention handsome wizard."

The newcomer narrowed his eyes at Sirius. "Right..." he said. "Anyway, can I join you?"

"Sure thing, nerd," said James. "What's your name?"

"Remus," said the kid. "Remus Lupin."

"Well hello Remus," said Sirius. "He's James, I'm Sirius."

"From your joking manner, I definitely doubt that," said Remus. "And anyway, why would you even joke about that? It's a common enough name."

"Why do people keep making that assumption about my name?" asked Sirius.

"Because more people know the word 'serious' than the brightest star in Canis Major?" suggested Remus.

"Really reinforcing the nerd thing, aren't you?" asked James. "Do you want the cool kids to beat you up?"

"Bring 'em on," said Remus. "I've read up on the basics of spell casting, which I'm guessing most of the other first years haven't done."

"And if that doesn't work?" asked Sirius.

"I have...other means," said Remus. "Though I hope I never have to use them."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" asked James.

"...I'd rather not say," said Remus, as though he'd said too much.

"Yeah, right, he's got nothing," said Sirius.

"No, I've got something," said Remus.

"Okay then, what?" asked Sirius.

"I...I..." stammered Remus, as the door burst open again, revealing yet another first year, this one looking terrified.

"Hide me!" he yelped, diving under James and Sirius's legs and covering his head.

"Whoa, what happened?" asked Sirius. "And is it anything to do with the bunny ears guy?"

"Y...yeah," said the new kid. "What do you know about it?"

"I may have had something to do with it," said Sirius.

"Of course you did," muttered Remus.

"What happened now?" asked James.

"He's hexing anyone who laughs at him," said the new kid. "Now he's trying to hex me."

"Wow Sirius, you really ticked this guy off," said James.

"Yeah, my family has a knack for that," said Sirius, before turning to the new kid. "So, you have a name?"

"P-P-P-P-Peter Pettigrew," said the newcomer.

"Well, P-P-P-P-Peter," said James. "I don't know that hiding under our legs is a particularly effective strategy."

"What makes you say that?" asked Peter.

"Because bunny ears is standing outside the compartment," said James.

"God damn it, you led him right to me," said Sirius, as the door burst open.

"YOU!" yelled the boy, pointing at Sirius. "I'm going to..." Before he could finish his threat, he was blasted down the corridor, and an elderly witch pushing a trolley of food came into view, putting away her wand.

"Honestly Evan, scaring a bunch of first years like that?" scowled the trolley witch. "I thought you'd know better by now."

"Look at what he did to my ears," snapped Evan, pointing to his ears.

"Oh, boohoo," said the trolley witch. "If I had a sickle for every simple hex you kids put on each other, I'd be living on one of the Caribbean islands by now. Just go see Madame Pomfrey when we get to school." Almost immediately, the trolley witch dropped the sour expression on her face for one far more pleasant. "Anything from the trolley dears?"

"I think we'll get a few things," said James, pulling out a few galleons.

"Holy moly," said Peter. "Where'd you get that kind of cash?"

"I'm kind of rich," said James, grabbing a bunch of snacks. "What do you guys want?"

"Well, if you're offering..." started Sirius, getting up to see what was on the trolley.

As Sirius was rummaging through the food, James noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Looking over, he saw the auburn haired girl from the station that his parents had helped. She was happily chatting away with a boy with dark hair and pale skin. From the way they were talking, it was clear they'd known each other for a while. _Don't worry_, James thought to himself. _You'll get to talk to her eventually. Just wait until we get to Hogwarts._ James paid for his snacks, and sat back in the compartment with his new friends.

**Author's note: Okay, there we go. First chapter down. Any other stories from the Marauders days you want to see, let me know.**


	2. The Sorting Ceremony

Chapter 2: The Sorting Ceremony

The train rolled on for a few more hours and soon the sky turned black as night time came on. The boys had changed into their robes, and watched as the train started to slow down in amongst some trees. Soon, a station appeared, and the train came to a complete stop. "You think we're here?" asked Peter.

"No, we're stopping for fuel," said James sarcastically. "Of course we're here, dingbat."

"Don't suppose anyone else got a glimpse of the castle?" asked Remus. "Well, guess we better head out there." The four of them opened the door to the compartment, and joined the mass of children moving towards the exits. The older kids seemed to be heading for a nearby path, so the younger kids started to follow them, until a big booming voice caught their attention.

"A'right, first yehrs o'er tah me," called the voice. "Ever'one else o'er tah the carr'dges." The boys looked over at the speaker, and were shocked at the man coming towards them. He must have been eleven feet tall at least, and had a long black beard covering most of his face. "Come on, don' be shy noo."

"Oh my God..." whispered a student near the boys. "Is...is he a giant?"

"Don't be stupid," said another one. "Giants are way bigger, and way more violent. He probably got hit by a curse or something."

"Al'ight, is that all of yeh?" asked the giant man, ignoring the whispers about him. "Al'ight kids, welcome tah Hogwarts School o' Witchcraft an' Wizardry. I'm the gamekeeper Rubeus 'agrid, and I'll be takin' yeh up to the castle."

"Are you sure you're not just gonna lead us off into the woods to eat us?" asked one kid, getting a laugh out of some of the others. Hagrid didn't seem to take any notice of this.

"A'right, folla me," Hagrid said, marching down a nearby path. Several of the first years looked nervously at each other, but when they saw the other students following Hagrid into the dark forest, they ignored their common sense and went along after him.

"Remember, if something goes wrong, all we have to do is outrun Remus," said Sirius.

"Hey!" snapped Remus, punching Sirius in the arm.

"Yeah, we need to outrun Peter," said James.

"HEY!" yelled Peter, though he didn't try to hit James.

Soon, the giant man had led the children to the edge of a large lake, and across the other side loomed Hogwarts castle. "Holy moly," gasped Peter. "It's massive!"

"Yeah, you'll get used tah it," said Hagrid, climbing into a small rowboat tied up at the edge of the lake. "Or yeh'll get los' in the first week and be never 'eard from again. All aboard."

"Wait, what was that?" asked one kid, but Hagrid's boat was already sailing across the lake with a couple of students in it. All the other kids were piling into boats, not wanting to be left on the shore after what Hagrid had just said. The four boys managed to all climb into one together, and watched as all the boats slowly made their way to a small dock at the foot of the castle.

"Hey James, whatcha looking at?" asked Sirius, noticing his new friend was staring out across the lake at something. James snapped out of his daydream, but not before Sirius saw what he was looking at. "Hey, were you looking at the redhead over there?"

"What?" asked James, trying to act surprised. "N...no, I was just...thinking."

"Uh huh," said Sirius. "About what, exactly?"

"Uh..." fumbled James, trying to come up with something. "What's in store for us at school?"

"And asking out the cute girl in the other boat?" teased Peter.

"Watch it, I'm not afraid to push you into the lake," warned James.

"You wouldn't," said Peter, trying to hide the slight fear in his voice. "There could be something dangerous in the water."

"I highly doubt there's anything too bad in the lake," said Remus, just as something large breached the surface about twenty yards away from the boats. In the darkness it was hard to see exactly what it was, but the tentacles extending from its body suggested some kind of squid. "Except maybe that."

"You know what James? I'm gonna make a bet with you," said Sirius. "I dare you to ask out your girlfriend at the feast."

"WHAT?!" yelled James. "I can't just..."

"Can I just interject?" said Remus, then continued without waiting for an answer. "A bet and a dare are two very different things."

"Nobody asked you, genius," said Sirius, dismissing Remus's comment. "As for you James, I could always tell her you were staring at her."

"Better be careful, her current boyfriend might get jealous," said Peter, pointing out a pale kid that the girl was talking too. The girl seemed to be in a very good mood, laughing and enjoying herself, while the boy sat in silence, trying to smile occasionally but ultimately going back to a dark expression.

"Him? Bah, I could take him," said James. "He's just acting tough to make himself look more impressive."

"Ooh, brave words," said Sirius. "Care to back it up?"

James glared at him. "You know what? I will," said James. "Once the feast starts, I'm going to talk to her."

"What if we're in different houses?" asked Peter. "I hear they separate us based on house at meals."

"Then I'll..." started James, as they heard a loud THUNK! The boys saw that they'd arrived at a dock near the bottom of the rocks leading up to the castle.

"A'right kids, follah me," said Hagrid. "We'll be in the castle soon, then we can get yeh sorted and have some dinner."

"Bout time," muttered one of the kids near the boys, wandering past them to follow Hagrid. The boys soon followed, up numerous long staircases until they reached a huge doorway. Inside was even more steps, until they were met by a witch wearing green robes.

"Good evening first years," said the witch. "My name is Professor McGonagall, your Transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress here at Hogwarts. In a minute, we will pass through these doors, and you will be sorted into your Houses."

"Can't we eat first?" asked Sirius, getting some laughs out of the other kids.

McGonagall simply glared at him. "I can see we're going to have to keep an eye on you," said McGonagall. "Okay, follow me." McGonagall pushed her way through a door at the top of the stairs, and the children followed her down the middle of a huge hall full of children seated at four long tables until they were standing in front of a stool with an old hat sitting on it.

"They're not gonna make us wear that musty old thing, are they?" asked James.

"Musty? Why, in all my years..." said the hat, making all the first years jump in shock. "Ahem, sorry. Who shall be the first sorted?"

"That would be Bonnie Abbott," said McGonagall, reading off from a piece of parchment. A young blonde girl walked up to the stood nervously, and sat down. McGonagall placed the hat on her head, and the hat scrunched up its folds in concentration for what seemed like an eternity.

A couple of the student crept closer to see what was happening, when suddenly the hat erupted with a roar. "HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat cried, causing a few people to fall back in shock. A cheer came from one of the tables, and Bonnie went and joined her new house.

"Diana Alexander?" asked McGonagall, with a dark haired girl going to the stool. Sirius looked around, and saw someone familiar at a table on the far side of the hall. His cousin, Narcissa, seemed to be saving him a spot. Sitting next to her was her boyfriend Lucius. Sirius couldn't stand him, despite the family trying to encourage the union. The Malfoys were known to be rich, and many members of the Black family were ecstatic at the possibility of marrying into it.

Sirius turned away in disgust, as another girl (Cynthia Armstrong) was sorted into Gryffindor, and another girl (Rose Bates) was called to the hat. Sirius made up his mind: he didn't want to be a Slytherin. The Black family all went into Slytherin, and there were too many bad members to count. Sirius didn't care which house he was in, as long as it wasn't...

"SLYTHERIN!" yelled the Sorting Hat, snapping Sirius out of his daydream. For a moment Sirius thought that the Hat was already sorting him, until he realised Rose was just getting up off the stool and heading over to the Slytherin table.

"Sirius Black?" called McGonagall. A strange hush seemed to fall over the Great Hall, followed by Sirius gulping in nervousness as he moved to the front of the Hall and took his seat.

"Hmm, another Black, huh?" asked the Sorting Hat. "You know, your family has always been partial to Slytherin house."

"I know," sighed Sirius, as he was about to get off the stool and have the hat removed by McGonagall.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked the Hat, causing Sirius to freeze and McGonagall to snatch her hand back. "I sense something...different about you. You don't want to be like your family. You want more for yourself, to be a better person. There's a place for people like you, and it's...GRYFFINDOR!"

The decision was met with stunned silence, before a cheer erupted from the Gryffindor table. Sirius could hardly believe it himself. He looked over at the Slytherin table briefly to see Narcissa glaring back at him as he took his seat.

Sirius sat back and watched as Gryffindor gained another boy and Slytherin gained another couple of kids, before hearing McGonagall call out a certain name. "Lily Evans?" Sirius watched as the red haired girl he'd been teasing James about took her seat on the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the Sorting Hat about three seconds later, which was met with a cheer from the Gryffindor table. Lily got up off the seat and came over to the Gryffindor table, sitting down near where Sirius was placed. Now that she was sitting next to him, Sirius could see what James like about her. She was...cute. Sirius stared at her for a moment, before banishing these thoughts. James wants to talk to her. He shouldn't...

"Hi. It's Sirius, isn't it?" asked Lily, making Sirius jump. She was talking to him?!

"Uh...yeah," said Sirius, not really sure how to answer. "Lily, right?"

"Yeah," said Lily, a nervous smile on her lips. "Kinda weird, isn't it? When they called you and the whole place got quiet."

"Yeah, well, let's just say my family has a bit of a...reputation," said Sirius.

"You make it sound like a bad thing," said Lily.

"That's because my family's reputation is a bad thing," said Sirius. "Almost every member of the Black family ends up in Slytherin, and it's almost expected that we become dark wizards."

"But not you?" asked Lily. "You're trying to be different."

"I want to be," said Sirius. "I hate my family. I hate their high expectations for us. I hate their views on muggles. There's no point to it."

"What are their views on muggles?" asked Lily. "Sorry, I only ask because I'm muggle-born."

"Really?" asked Sirius. "Well, uh, my family wouldn't like you. Sorry, you seem nice and all, but my family thinks that mudbloods are scum of the earth." Sirius suddenly realises what he'd let slip. "Oh, jeez, sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

"Say what?" asked Lily. "Mudblood? What is that?"

"Oh? No-one's told you?" asked Sirius. "It's a bad word for describing someone with non-magic parents." Sirius looked across at the Slytherin table, and saw Narcissa still glaring at him. "Just a heads up, there are some people who will call you that, no matter how good of a person you are."

"Bring them on," said Lily, a determined look on her face. "I'm not scared of a few idiots who don't..."

"Remus Lupin?" called McGonagall, snapping Sirius's attention back to the Sorting Ceremony.

"Ooh, sorry, one of my friends from the train is getting sorted," said Sirius, watching as Remus took his place in the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the Sorting Hat, to the cheers of the Gryffindor table. Remus excitedly took the hat off his head, and ran to join Sirius and Lily at their table, as a girl named Jane Owens took his place.

"Hey Sirius, looks like we'll be in the same house," said Remus. "I wonder if the others will end up here too."

"Guess we'll see soon," said Sirius, as the next two kids were sorted into Slytherin and Ravenclaw, and McGonagall called out Peter's name.

"Hmm..." pondered the Sorting Hat. "A good sense for survival, if only for self-preservation. Ravenclaw would make some sense for you, but I feel like if you were tested, you'd prove us all wrong. I'm thinking...GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table cheered as Peter joined his friends, and James was called to the stool.

"Well, we're three from three," said Remus. "You think James will end up here too?"

"Of course he will," said Peter.

"Does it matter if he doesn't?" asked Sirius. "He's cool, he can hang out with us even if he's in Hufflepuff."

"Then we have to see if my friend Severus ends up here too," said Lily.

"Is he the..." said Sirius, before a loud roar cut him off.

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the Sorting Hat, causing the Gryffindor table to cheer wildly as James sat down between Lily and Sirius.

"Welcome to the club, buddy," said Sirius, patting his friend on the back.

"Hi there," said Lily. "James, was it?"

"Uh..." started James, suddenly very aware that the girl he'd been dared to talk to was sitting about half a foot away from him. "Uh...yeah. And you're Lily, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," replied Lily. "How are you?"

"Uh..." stammered James, ignoring the comments the others were making.

"He's failing," said Peter.

"Hush," said Remus. "You have to give him a chance to fail."

"Yeah, give him a chance to fail," said Sirius.

"Uh..." continued James, before being interrupted by Lily.

"Look. Severus is being sorted," she said. "I hope he's in Gryffindor too." James sighed in relief, since now he didn't have to say anything.

"Hmm, let's see..." said the Sorting Hat. "Hmm, you're got good intentions in you, that much is certain. But you've got power, such power, and a great desire for more. I think I know the perfect house for you: SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherin table cheered as Severus removed the hat, scowling, unhappy with being sorted into a different house than Lily.

"Oh well, I guess I'll still see him around the school," said Lily with a hint of sadness, as a boy named Timothy Stebbins got sorted into Hufflepuff. All the while, James continued to try and think of what to say to her.

In fact, it wasn't until dessert that James realised that Sirius was talking around him with Lily. "I didn't realise that muggles had picture that moved and spoke too," said Sirius.

"Yeah, but our ones don't talk back to us like magic ones," said Lily. "They're more like...recordings of people talking and moving. And they're done for entertainment more than anything else."

"Yeah? Like what? What happens in them?" asked Sirius.

"Well, the last one I saw before I came here was about a boy who won a ticket to tour a chocolate factory," said Lily.

It was at that moment James decided to just go for it, regardless of the consequences. "I like chocolate too, will you go out with me?" said James, hardly even looking at Lily.

Lily paused, a spoonful of pudding halfway to her mouth. "Excuse me?" she said.

"Please say yes," muttered James, ignoring Sirius who was trying to stop himself from laughing out loud.

In response, Lily pushed James face straight into his own bowl of pudding. "Where were we?" asked Lily.

"Talking about muggle stuff so that I can get back at my family," said Sirius.

"Oh yeah," said Lily. "So, there's also..." Before she could finish, someone at the front of the Hall cleared their voice, and Dumbledore stood up, preparing to make a speech. "I'll tell you more later."

"Sure thing," said Sirius, turning his attention to the Headmaster, and ignoring the humiliated James cleaning his face off on his napkin. "Better luck next time buddy."

"Yeah, right," grumbled James.


	3. The First Prank

Chapter 3: The First Prank

"Can I just reiterate that this is a bad idea?" asked Remus.

"I told you Remus, your objections are noted, and also dismissed," said Sirius. "Now, let's get this set up."

The group had been at Hogwarts for just over a month, and so far things had been going fairly smoothly. However, Sirius had started feeling bad about ruining James's chances with Lily. So, Sirius had talked to the others about what to do about it, and eventually had come up with a plan: to try and separate Severus from Lily.

"And how do you propose to do that?" asked Remus. "From what I've heard, Severus was a friend of Lily's before she even came to this school. He was actually the one to show her what magic was, since she came from a muggle family and has a sister who despises her magical abilities."

"Ah, but you forget," said Sirius. "A little humiliation goes a long way."

"All I am going to say is that this is a bad idea," said Remus. "I am in no way going to try and stop you, since you're probably just going to do it anyway, and you might actually learn something when it inevitably goes wrong. I may also be needed to help fix things when that happens."

"I agree with Remus," said Peter. "It's going to go wrong, and..."

"You're not getting out of this, Pettigrew," said Sirius.

"Okay," said Peter, sighing in defeat.

"So James, are you okay with this?" asked Sirius.

"If you think it will help my chances with Lily..." started James.

"Not so much help you, but it should hurt Severus's chances with Lily, which should give you an in," said Sirius. "So, what's the plan?"

"You're the one who wants to pull a prank, and you don't have any idea what the prank is?" asked Remus.

"Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping you'd be more onboard with the whole plan," said Sirius. "You...don't have any good plans, do you?" Remus sighed in response and opened up the book he'd been reading. "Okay, no good there. How about the rest of you?"

"Excuse me," said a girl's voice from nearby, making them all jump. "Did I hear something about a prank?"

"Oh, ah, did we say prank?" asked James, watching as a girl who appeared to be in her fifth year approach them. "We meant..."

"Don't freak out, I really don't care," said the girl. "In fact, I'm interested in helping."

"Why do I feel like that's a bad idea?" asked Remus. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" asked the girl. "Patricia Rakepick. You may know me as the student who charmed the school brooms to flood the castle."

"Wait, that was you?" asked Peter. "I'd heard someone did that after watching some old muggle film, but I just assumed it was a story."

"Nope, I did it," said Patricia, taking a seat with the boys without asking to join them. "So, who's the prank on, and why?"

"First year named Severus Snape," said Sirius. "We need to humiliate him so that James has a shot with Lily."

"Ooh, one of you has a girlfriend?" asked Patricia. "Which one of you is James?" The other three immediately point at James.

"I don't have a girlfriend," said James. "That's the problem."

"Okay, okay," said Patricia. "Here's what I'm thinking: we get him drenched in water."

The boys stared at her expectantly. "Is that it?" asked Peter. "Because that doesn't seem so..."

"Water that's enchanted not to come off for a few hours," said Patricia. "When he finally dries off in about four hours' time, he'll be all wrinkled up like a prune. No girl will like that."

"You seem to like causing havoc with water," said Sirius.

"That's because it's relatively harmless if you don't use an amount capable of drowning someone," said Patricia. "So, who's with me?"

"Do we have a choice?" asked James.

"We do, but she's also come up with all the details for the prank," said Sirius. "So, who's doing what?"

"You know, I think I'm going to teach you how to do each part of the prank yourself," said Patricia. "It's more rewarding to accomplish these things on your own."

"And why would you do this?" asked Remus, suspicious.

"Because I'm in my fifth year," said Patricia. "I've only got a couple of years left here, and then I'm gone. I want a legacy to be carried on, and if that's in the form of pranks, then that's even better."

"I hardly think that's appropr..." started Remus.

"We'll do it," said Sirius and James at the same time.

"Excellent," said Patricia, before facing Remus and Peter. "What about you two?"

"If it means hanging around with you, then yes," said Peter, who seemed to be eyeing Patricia quite a bit more than the others.

"Good to hear," said Patricia, who either didn't notice Peter staring at her, or didn't care. "How about you?"

"Okay, fine, I'm in," said Remus. "But I just want to learn any reversal spells and charms, just in case things get out of hand."

"Spoilsport," muttered Patricia. "Okay, we're all in, here's what we're gonna do..."

It was a few weeks before the boys were ready for the prank, and by this point it was approaching Halloween. "It's the perfect day for it," said Patricia, on Halloween evening. "There's always a big feast for Halloween, so you can get him in front of everyone."

"Question," said Remus. "By everyone, does that include teachers? Because I feel like even if we do this out of sight of the teachers, they'll catch on pretty quickly that...you know..."

"Okay, fine, you can wait for him to be out of the Hall," huffed Patricia. "Jeez, it's like you haven't been paying attention to the plan at all."

"And it's like you haven't been paying attention to the fact that I'm just here to make sure the joke doesn't go too far," said Remus.

"Trust me, it won't," said Patricia. "Not unless that thing happens again."

"Wait, what thing?" asked Remus, as James approached with a cauldron full of water.

"Ah, excellent," said Patricia, ignoring Remus's question. "Okay Peter, you're up."

"Here goes," said Peter, pulling out his wand. "_Aqua glutinosa_." There was a quick flash of blue, though the water seemed more or less unchanged. "Did it work?"

"We'll know soon enough," said Patricia, pulling out her wand and levitating the cauldron to a spot just hidden enough that no-one would see it without knowing it was there. "Okay, next up is Sirius. Now, you're sure she'll be with him?"

"They're practically inseparable," said Sirius. "Even if they're not together, I reckon I can get him to..." Sirius cut himself off when he saw the doors to the Great Hall open, and Lily step out with Severus. "Here they are, wish me luck." Quickly, Sirius rushed up to the two of them.

"Oh, hey Sirius," said Lily. "I was just telling Severus about one of my favourite TV shows."

"And I'm pretty sure one of our kind is trying to subtly expose our secrets," said Severus, clearly unimpressed.

"Oh? And why would you say that?" asked Sirius, trying to feign interest.

"I told you Severus," said Lily. "He specifically says he's an alien, not a wizard. And he uses a police box that's bigger on the inside to travel through time, and every so often he changes his appearance."

"All explained by the extension charm, a time-turner, and Polyjuice potion," said Severus.

"Whatever Severus," huffed Lily. "I'm just disappointed they got rid of Patrick Troughton. I mean, Jon Pertwee's not bad, but Patrick was so much cuter."

"Just pretend I understood any of that," said Sirius, clearly not understanding any of it.

Meanwhile, back with the others...

"So, what kind of things do you do other than pranks?" asked Peter, making the most of his time sitting next to Patricia.

"Hmm..." started Patricia. "Nope, that's pretty much it. Well, except for..." Suddenly she cut herself off, seeing what Sirius was doing. "Look, he's manoeuvred everyone into the right places. James, it's go time." While they'd been talking, Sirius had managed to subtly move Lily and himself out of the danger zone, leaving Severus to take the effects of the cauldron if it were to get holes.

"Okay, here goes," said James, pulling out his wand. "_Partum foraminis_." There was a subtle white flash, one that Sirius saw right before the spell hit the cauldron. Sirius watched as the water poured down on Severus, drenching him from head to toe.

"Wha...what the hell?" snapped Severus, once the water stopped pouring down on him. "What is this?"

"Hopefully just water," said Sirius, feigning surprise. "Hopefully."

"Are you okay Severus?" asked Lily, pulling out her wand. "Here, let me try and dry you off. _Siccarentur aquae_." A blast of warm air hit Severus, but he didn't seem to be any drier. "What the..."

"Oh my God, did you wet yourself Severus?" asked James, coming into view before laughing at his own lame joke.

"James? You did this?" asked Lily.

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but..." started James.

"FLIPENDO!" yelled Lily, as a blue flash of light hurtled into James and knocked him over. Lily then turned her attention back to Severus. "Come on, let's see if Madame Pomfrey knows how to dry you off." Lily helped Severus up, and led him towards the Hospital Wing.

Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Patricia all came over to where James was lying on the ground. "You okay there buddy?" asked Sirius.

"What did I do wrong?" asked James, sitting back up.

"That joke was probably a little much," said Peter.

"Oh, you screwed up WAY before then," said Patricia. "Come on, let's see where else you went wrong."

"The fact you thought a prank would work to impress someone like Lily?" asked Remus.

"That's one of the problems, yes," said Patricia, helping James to his feet. "What else?"

"Entered way too soon?" asked Sirius.

"Sirius did most of the work?" suggested Peter.

"The prank was kind of lacklustre?" added Remus.

"All good points," said Patricia.

"Okay, I get it, I'm an idiot," said James.

"Good," said Remus. "Maybe you won't try something like this again?"

"Pfft, hell no," said James. "This is only the beginning."


	4. Secrets

Chapter 4: Secrets

It was happening tonight. On these nights, Remus hung out in the library, pretending that he was doing homework. The others called him a nerd for risking getting caught for the sake of studying, but they called him a nerd anyway, so he didn't care too much. They'd always be gone before...it happened. And once everyone was gone, he'd sneak outside to the place Dumbledore had shown him, out in the school grounds.

He'd reach the Whomping Willow, and normally find a rock to throw at the knot on its trunk, before scurrying past the branches. Once he was safely past them and in the tunnel, Remus shed his clothes, so that he would have something to wear back to the castle in the morning. He couldn't remember how many times he'd ruin clothes at home because of his condition.

It was all Fenrir Greyback's fault he had to live like this. Once a month, his body would go through the painful transformation into a beast, and all sense of who he is would vanish. Remus's parents had tried any number of cures, but nothing had been found to work against lycanthropy yet. It was part of the reason Remus studied so hard: he was hoping that one day, he could find a cure for this disease.

Every month Remus would hope that maybe, just maybe, this time it would be different. That maybe it had miraculously cured itself. But no, it came back every time, every bit as painful as the last time.

As Remus climbed the last incline into the Shrieking Shack, he felt the familiar twinge of his bones restructuring themselves into those of a wolf. Remus hurried along, quickly climbing through the trapdoor in the floor and closing it. When he finally finished changing, he was always too dumb to figure out that there was a door there to escape through. On top of that, Dumbledore had strengthened the walls and doors to the shack with various charms, making escape nearly impossible.

Remus howled in pain as he felt his spine reconfigure itself, and fingers shrink down into paws with long, sharp claws. He'd gone through all this a hundred times before, but it never seemed to get any easier. Remus had tried to resist the change in the past, and had even had some success. However, being half-transformed had been excruciating, so he started just letting the thing consume him.

Remus's vision began to fade, and almost on cue, thoughts of rage and destruction started infecting his mind, before he blacked out completely...

Remus woke up in the middle of a trashed room, the leg of a table snapped in two held in each of his hands. Remus didn't want to stay long, nor could he afford to. His friends would miss him soon, so Remus quickly ran back to the trapdoor, yanked it open, and jogged back through the tunnel to where he'd left his clothes.

Before leaving the tunnel, Remus always had to check to see if anyone was around. Sometimes there were teachers, who were all aware of his condition, but it was students he was really concerned about. If any of them ever found out about...no, Remus couldn't think about that. Just get back to the castle, and play it off as getting an early breakfast. That tended to work.

Remus peered out of the tunnel, and saw no-one. He then checked in a strategically placed mirror, hidden under a rock so that no-one would see it unless they knew it was there, in case someone was behind the tree. 'No-one,' thought Remus. 'Great, I'm outta here.'

Remus climbed out of the hole, and ran straight for the castle, avoiding the Whomping Willow's branches as he went. There was no-one around, which was a good thing as he ran across the grounds and back to the castle. Remus snuck in through the Entrance Hall, and into the Great Hall where breakfast was just getting served. 'No-one is any the wiser,' he thought, sitting down and grabbing some bacon.

James got back into the dormitory, took off his invisibility cloak, and as quietly as possible, roused Peter and Sirius. "Guys, I know where Remus goes every month," he said.

"Oh? Where then?" asked Sirius.

"There's a hole at the bottom of the Whomping Willow," said James. "He goes through there after he hits a knot on its trunk."

"So where's the hole go?" asked Peter.

"I'm not sure," admitted James. "I couldn't get close enough to the tree to hit the knot, then Mrs. Lewis appeared."

"Filch's bloody cat," muttered Sirius. "So basically, you know he sneaks off the school grounds, but not where?"

"That's the gist of it, yes," admitted James.

"Well, all we have to do is..." started Sirius.

"Will you guys shut up?" said Richard, another boy in their dorm. "Why are you even up this early on a Sunday?"

"...we'll continue this later," said James, crawling into bed after having been out all night.


	5. Chasing the Glory

Chapter 5: Chasing the Glory

It was cold, even though it was only a couple of weeks into autumn. James walked onto the Quidditch pitch, clutching his Nimbus 1000 nervously. He had to keep reminding himself: I'm only a second year, I'm not likely to make the team this early. Most of these kids have a much better shot than me.

There were about ten other kids on the pitch, waiting to see what drills would be put to them to get on the team. None of the other second years were there. In front of them stood a dark haired seventh year girl, and the other members of the team stood behind her.

"Hello everyone," said the girl. "My name is Drina Outlaw, I am the captain of the team, and I'm here to tell eight of you that you won't be on the team this year." There was a collective gulp from the students. "Now there are two positions open this year: a chaser, and a beater. Hands up who wants to be a beater."

James was about to put his hand up, when a beefy looking fifth year next to him raised his hand. Only two others were brave enough to put their hands up: a small third year boy, and a sixth year girl who had a mean looking face, but appeared to be more skin and bones than anything else.

"Well Tod, I daresay you're in with a shot this year," said Drina, turning to face the team members behind her. "Hefin, the bats please." A fourth year boy with dirty blond hair reached into a chest, and pulled out a set of bats. "Okay, each of you grab a bat, and get on your brooms." The three of them did as they were told.

"Now what?" asked the big guy named Tod.

"Now, I want the three of you in the air," said Drina. "Once you're up high enough, we're going to release the bludgers. The three of you will attempt to knock each other off your broom using ONLY the bludgers. Last one still on their broom wins."

"WHAT?!" yelled the small third year boy. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"You know what's dangerous?" asked Drina. "Quidditch is dangerous. And guess what? Bludgers are also dangerous. You're welcome to step aside, I won't stop you. But what I want in a beater is someone who can hit a target, and also avoid being hit. Preferably you can also take a blow from a bludger and keep playing, but I know how dangerous those things can be."

"She's right, you know," said Hefin, stepping forward. "Beaters aren't the most glamorous of players, we're rarely the ones winning the game for the team. But when the seeker's got his eye on the snitch and nothing else, or when a chaser's too preoccupied with an open goal to see the oncoming bludger, we're the only thing standing between you and a concussion."

"Well said," said Drina. "So again I say: you're welcome to pull out, or you can get up there and show us what you're made of." The boy trembled a bit, but gripped his broom with determination. "Brave man," said Drina, turning to face Tod and the girl. "Don't take it easy on him. Or each other, for that matter."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said the girl, sounding very unimpressed by the danger she was about to be in.

"Right, get on up there, and me and Hefin will begin judging your skills," said Drina, walking over to a chest that was shaking with the rage of the restrained bludgers inside.

The three of them mounted their brooms and flew into the air, hovering about twenty feet from the ground. Drina and Hefin nodded to each other as they each released a bludger, before grabbing their wands. "You're gonna throw spells at them too?" asked James.

"Of course not," said Drina. "I'm sadistic, but I'm not going to let anyone break every bone in their body. When they fall, we're going to catch them before they hit the ground."

"Speaking of which," said Hefin, aiming his wand. "Arresto Momentum." The charm hit its target: the small third year who'd been concerned about the exercise in the first place.

"No surprises there," muttered Drina, casting another charm to summon his broomstick back to the ground. "Better luck next year kid, unless you want to try for the chaser position." The boy muttered his thanks as he grabbed his broomstick and left the pitch. "Oh well, no big loss there. How are the others doing?"

"Cecilia's holding her own surprisingly well against Tod," said Hefin, who hadn't stopped watching the two of them. "But Tod's not letting up." As he said this, Tod hit one of the bludgers straight at Cecilia, who managed to roll on her broomstick to avoid getting hit, before smacking the bludger back at Tod when she got back upright.

Tod then surprised everyone by catching the bludger in his hands, and not falling off his broom. Drina flinched in surprise, before a grin formed on her face. Cecilia, on the other hand, was so shocked she didn't even see the other bludger coming up behind her, striking her in the back and knocking her off her broom.

"Arresto Momentum," said Drina, catching the falling girl, while Hefin summoned her broom to him. "I think we have a winner."

"Hell yeah," said Tod, returning to the ground. "So, when do we..."

"What are you doing on the ground?" asked Drina, surprising Tod. "You've gotta help us find our new chaser now."

"Wait, what?" asked Tod. "But I just joined."

"Being a member of this team isn't just about any one individual," said Drina. "We have to work as one. Tod, you've been an emergency for this team for two years now, and I've seen you work well with Hefin. I know you won't let me down."

"O...okay," said Tod, getting back on his broom. "What do you need me to do?"

"What I need is for you and Hefin to hit those bludgers at the potential chasers," said Drina, causing the chasers to yell in surprise. "What? You didn't think you were going to just shoot some hoops and get on the team, did you?"

"Isn't that the..." started one kid, before Drina spun around and gave him a look.

"Everything I do is for a reason, and the main reason for it is to weed out the ones who shouldn't be here," said Drina sternly. "As chasers, you must not only be able to score goals, but to have unrivalled spatial awareness. I want you to know where EVERYTHING is at all times. Even the snitch if possible. Bludgers are possibly the biggest threat to you and your teammates. So, Hefin and Tod will hit bludgers at you, and the one of you who can get a goal past me faster than anyone else under those conditions gets to be on the team. You got that?" There was a general muttering of agreement. "Great, let's get to work."

So, James watched as, one by one some of the others tried to score a goal. A third year girl was first, but hardly lasted a minute before Tod knocked her off her broom. She was followed by a fourth year boy, but he lasted only slightly longer before falling too. Two fifth years followed, a boy and a girl, and neither of them got close, though the boy at least dodged the first bludger.

"Come on people, it's not that hard is it?" yelled Drina from the goals. "Who's next?"

"Looking at the list, it's James Potter," said one of the chasers, who James had learned was named Wilbur. "Good luck kid, you're gonna need it."

James gulped, and nervously mounted his broom as he rose to meet the other chaser, who handed him the quaffle. "Don't die out there," she said. "There's probably paperwork involved with that, and Drina would HATE that."

"Okay James, ready?" asked Drina. "If not, too bad. Time starts now." James hardly had time to react as both Tod and Hefin smacked bludgers at him, but he managed to duck below them and escape as they crashed into each other. James knew that he'd have at best ten seconds to make as much ground away from them as possible, and did exactly that.

James kept his ears open for the crack of wood hitting metal, the sure sign that one of the beaters had hit the bludger at him, and sure enough he heard it as he crossed the halfway mark of the field. James quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw one flying at him from his right, and immediately ducked lower to avoid it, feeling it brush through his hair as he did.

James soon heard the other one being hit, this time from the left. This time, James flew upwards and to the right, and still felt the bludger nudge his boot. 'Don't think about it,' he reminded himself. 'Get to the goals, and score. Even if you miss, at this point you're in front, so...' He was snapped out of his thought when he suddenly heard a bludger hurtling towards him. He had no time to look to see how close it was, so James ducked low and clutched his broom tightly. The bludger whipped past his face, and he felt it hit his nose. 'Am I hurt?' he asked himself, before seeing how close the goals were. 'Never mind, I've got other things to worry about.' James lined up his shot and threw the quaffle as hard as he could...

...only for Drina to swoop in and smack the ball out of the way. "Nice try kid," she said. "But I never make it that easy." James glared at her, but he couldn't be angry at her. She definitely knows what she wants in a chaser. "Well? Go get it. You haven't lost yet." James turned to fly to where the quaffle was falling, and was met with a bludger to the chest. James slipped off his broomstick, desperately grabbing at nothing while struggling to breathe as he lost consciousness...

"Really Miss Outlaw, your methods are a bit much, don't you think?" came the voice of Madame Pomfrey.

"Hey, I want tough players," said Drina. "Besides, it's a rough sport. If they can't take a bludger hit, they shouldn't be playing. Now, can I speak with him?"

Madam Pomfrey gave a huge sigh. "Okay, fine," she said. "But I don't want to this be a regular occurrence. He's just a second year. Two broken toes, a broken nose, and a concussion is a lot more than he should have at that age."

"He made his choice, he can deal with it," said Drina, and James heard the sound of approaching footsteps. "Oh good, you're awake."

"What...happened?" asked James, sitting up in his bed. He was suddenly aware of the pain from his toes, and from his nose. Had they really been broken?

"What happened?" repeated Drina. "What happened was, you were the only one to even try and shoot for goal. Not to mention take TWO bludger hits and kept coming. And I saw the way you were flying. You've got some skills. Skills I've never seen a second year use before. Skills I want on my team."

"Wh...what?" asked James, hardly able to believe what he was hearing.

"I'm asking you to join the team," said Drina. "You're really good James. Good enough that I'm picking you over students who've been trying for years to get on the team. If you're up for it, you're on the team."

"R...really?" asked James. "Yes. Yes, of course I'll join the team."

"Excellent," said Drina, clapping her hands together. "We train Tuesdays and Fridays at 7pm, and Sundays at 7am. Be there, or I find someone to replace you. Got it?"

"Y...yes," said James, though Drina was already leaving. James lay back in his pillow. He couldn't believe it, he was on the team. Wait until he told the others...


	6. Starting Down a Dark Path

Chapter 6: Starting Down a Dark Path

Peter found Patricia studying in the library one Saturday afternoon. "Hey Pat," he said, walking up to her and taking a seat across from her. "Me and the guys were planning a prank, and were wondering if..." Peter's eyes soon found the titles of the books she was reading. "Hey, what's this? It doesn't look like school work."

"It's not," said Patricia, looking up from her reading. "Peter, can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course," said Peter immediately. "We're friends, right?"

"Yeah, obviously," said Patricia. "It's just...I don't want too many people to know about this, and you seem like the only person I can trust with this information."

"Really?" asked Peter. "What about Remus? Or James, or Sirius?"

"I don't think Remus will believe it," said Patricia. "As for James and Sirius, I just don't think they're...mature enough, if you get me."

"I suppose," said Peter. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Have you heard of the Cursed Vaults?" asked Patricia.

"I can't say that I have," said Peter. "What are they?"

"Well, there are rumours that there are five vaults hidden somewhere in or around Hogwarts, each containing something locked away for various reasons," said Patricia. "Some are said to have treasure, while others are said to have dark artifacts. No-one's really sure if they even exist though."

"Okay," said Peter. "But you believe it?"

"Most rumours start with at least an element of truth in them," said Patricia. "Even the gods from Greek and Roman mythology were just early witches and wizards without a means to control their powers."

"Okay," said Peter, nodding along with the explanation so far. "So, why are you looking for them?"

"Because who knows what kind of treasure is stored in those things?" asked Patricia with a bit of a smirk on her face. "Plus, wouldn't it be at least a little bit cool to be able to add 'found and proven the existence of the Cursed Vaults' to your resume?"

"I guess," admitted Peter. "But what about the dark artifacts you mentioned?"

"What about them?" asked Patricia, causing Peter's eyes to widen in shock. "Look, Peter, I'll level with you: you're not really a leader, are you?"

"I guess not," said Peter glumly.

"If someone else wants to take charge of the situation, you're happy to help, right?" asked Patricia.

"I am," said Peter.

"Well, I need a sidekick in what I'm doing," said Patricia. "You see, what I'm doing could get me in trouble. Like, expulsion-level trouble, if I'm not careful. And if that happens, who's going to carry on my research?"

"Good point," said Peter.

"So, are you in?" asked Patricia, staring at him.

"Of course. I'd love to help you," said Peter. "But, uh, about those dark artifacts we might come across in the process of doing this..."

"Oh, don't stress too much about those," said Patricia, handwaving it like it was no big deal.

"It's just that...I don't know, I just don't want to get wrapped up in something that I might regret," said Peter. "I mean, what if..."

"What if what?" asked Patricia. "Look, if it's evil enough that we could get in trouble, all we have to do is either destroy it, or hand it over to the relevant authorities. Or we could keep it, I don't judge."

"But...wouldn't we end up like Grindelwald?" asked Peter. "Or that new Dark Lord, Volde..."

"Don't speak his name," interrupted Patricia quickly, before a smile spread across her face. "You're not scared to speak his name, are you?"

"Why should I?" asked Peter, completely oblivious to what was happening. "Either the Aurors will stop him, or we'll end up serving him. There's no reason to fear him."

"That's what I want to hear," said Patricia. "You're looking at the situation from a critical point of view, and when it comes to survival, you know what the best course of action is. So, you'll join me in my search for these Vaults?"

"Yes, definitely," said Peter. "If you'll join me and the boys with our prank."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Patricia, standing up and picking up her stuff. "Let's go see what you've got in mind."


	7. The Truth

Chapter 7: The Truth

It was yet another full moon, less than a week until Christmas. Remus snuck out of the castle as he normally did, and headed for the Whomping Willow. He was past the defence quickly, but because it was the dead of winter, Remus opted to wait until he was nearly at the Shrieking Shack before disrobing.

As he made his way through the tunnel, Remus was sure he heard something. A whisper, a loose stone getting kicked, footsteps. But every time he looked back, he couldn't see anything, as if whatever was making the sounds knew he was looking for them, and were shutting up to make sure he didn't find them. 'Maybe I should ask Dumbledore to double check the security on this hole,' he thought, as he got to the last incline before his entrance to the Shack.

Remus's extra paranoia had cost him some time. He barely had time to remove his clothes before his wolf form started taking hold. He scrambled up the ladder and into the Shack, barely closing the trapdoor as his hands started turning to claws. He moved away a bit, as he felt his face elongate, his nose turning into a snout.

Remus sniffed the air, and almost froze with fear. His heightened senses told him there was a scent nearby, something living, something...human. But that couldn't be right, could it? No-one came near here, and he was positive no-one had followed him.

He couldn't focus on the problem any longer, as his body started getting covered in fur and the beast's thoughts began taking over his. All Remus could do was hope that who or whatever it was that had come here was gone before they got hurt...

Remus woke slowly the next morning, remembering where he was, then suddenly the memory of his last thoughts from last night hit him. 'There was someone nearby,' he thought. 'But who...'

Remus looked around the Shack frantically, searching for signs of blood. 'Nothing,' sighed Remus, relieved. 'Maybe whoever it was heard the howls from inside and escaped.' Satisfied that nothing bad had happened last night, Remus opened the trapdoor and dressed quickly, before hurrying back along the tunnel.

"I just...I can't believe it," said James. "I mean, I knew he was hiding something, but...how did we never notice?"

"Maybe because we never noticed that he only ever left on full moons?" suggested Sirius. "What do you think Peter?"

Peter just stayed frozen like he had been since last night when they'd witnessed the event that would haunt them for years. Their friend, sneaking out of the school into a secret tunnel. Their friend, naked and in pain as he changed into a monster. Their friend, scared to tell them about this out of fear of what they might think.

The three of them had followed Remus under the invisibility cloak the previous night. They had followed him quickly when he froze the Whomping Willow, unsure if it could see them under the cloak, and had to carefully make their way through the tunnel.

Several times, they thought he had heard them or noticed them, before he continued down the tunnel. But when he entered through a trapdoor and they peaked at what was happening...

"Look, we can't treat him any different because of this," said James. "He's still our friend..."

"I know," said Sirius. "It's just...I mean, did any of us see this coming?"

"Definitely wasn't what I was expecting," said James. "I thought maybe he was just sneaking away to explore or something."

"...I mean, it is a big castle. I wonder if anyone's ever mapped it out," pondered Sirius, as they heard someone coming through the portrait.

"Oh, hey guys," said Remus, coming into the Common Room. "Didn't expect you to be up so early."

"Uh, yeah, we, err.." struggled James.

"You're a werewolf," Peter blurted out, speaking for the first time since they'd gotten back.

Remus froze, shock and horror visible on his face. "Wha..." he started, but words were failing him.

"We followed you," said James. "Last night, we saw you go into that shack, and..."

"It was you..." whispered Remus, still staring at them in fear of what might happen. "What...what are you gonna do?"

"What do you mean, what are we gonna do?" asked Sirius. "What do you think we're gonna do?"

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" asked Remus, fear clearly discernible in his voice.

"Why would we do that?" asked James. "You're our friend Remus. We're not gonna tell anyone about this. We get why you kept it from us."

"You're...not mad?" asked Remus.

"Why the hell would we?" asked Sirius. "Come on, you should know us better than that by now." Remus looked around at the three of them, and visibly relaxed. "Come on, take a seat, tell us about it."

"Okay," said Remus. "But won't other people be getting up soon?"

"Oh, it's not that..." started Sirius, as students started getting up to go down to get breakfast. "Oh, right, it's still only Thursday, isn't it?"

"Yeah, let's go get something to eat," said James, getting up to leave. "You can talk to us later."

"Alright," said Remus. "You coming, Peter?"

"Is no-one going to mention that we saw him naked?" asked Peter to himself, before sighing and following the others.


	8. Family Matters

Chapter 8: Family Matters

Sirius lugged his trunk up the stairs of No. 12 Grimmauld Place, and closed the door to his room behind him. He was about to do something his parents would never approve of. Opening his trunk, Sirius pulled out the package Lily had gotten him for Christmas. He knew his parents would hate what was inside, but he didn't care. They weren't exactly the nicest people.

Sirius opened up the wrappings, and pulled out the first of the posters: a picture of a fighter jet. A little caption at the bottom said it was called a CONVAIR F-106 Delta Dart. Even though the image didn't move around like most pictures he'd seen, there was something cool about it. Lily mentioned something about it being used in a war in some faraway country, which Sirius figured meant it must be good.

Sirius pulled out his wand, and held the poster against the door of his closet. "Manere Permanens," he said, and the poster stuck itself against the door. Anyone who tried to remove it would have a very difficult time. Sirius went back to the package and pulled out the next poster: this one was of a motorcycle. It featured the words "Easy Rider" in big letters on the bottom of it, which Lily told him was the name of a movie. Sirius found a spot on his wall to stick this one too. 'Hmm...' thought Sirius. 'Maybe I should get a motorcycle one day. They look cool.'

Sirius returned to the package and pulled out one of his favourite pictures in the bunch (and one that made him glad Lily didn't judge him too hard): she called these 'centrefolds' from a muggle magazine called Playboy. Sirius opened one of the pictures up, and smiled broadly. The women in these pictures often wore little to no clothes, and Sirius could only approve. Sirius found a spot for each of them just above his bed.

The last couple of posters weren't quite as 'fun', but that didn't mean Sirius didn't like them: explosions, race cars, the team photo of the British soccer team winning the World Cup from a few years ago. Lily assured him that this was all stuff muggle thirteen-year-olds would have in their rooms.

Once all the posters were up, Sirius went on to phase two of redecorating his room: a small shrine to Godric Gryffindor. It wasn't much, mostly consisting of a small statue Patricia got him from Hogsmeade, as well as some scarlet and gold nick-knacks he'd 'acquired'.

Sirius stood in the doorway, admiring his handiwork. His parents were definitely going to freak out when they saw what he'd done, though Sirius thought it looked pretty good. No-one would know this room belonged to a wizard unless they were aware the house could only be accessed through magic, except for maybe the shrine on his bedside table.

There were still more things he wanted, like a record player and comic books, but Lily had already spent way more money than Sirius had expected her to by buying this stuff for him. In any case, Lily had said that even cheap record players cost hundreds of pounds, and ran on electricity, something that Sirius's ancestors had seen to removing from the house.

Sirius decided that, with his room redecorated, he'd better start unpacking, when he heard a loud CRACK from next to his bed. Sirius turned to see his family's house elf Kreacher standing next to his bed, his eyes widening in shock at what was in one of his master's bedrooms.

"Master Sirius..." he started, still unable to believe what he was seeing. "What has you done?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with Kreacher," said Sirius. "Run along."

"Master Orion and Mistress Walburga will not be pleased," said Kreacher. "Master Sirius must know how they feel about muggles."

"Well aware of that Kreacher," said Sirius, ignoring the house elf's concerns. "Now, go away, I need to unpack."

"Don't say I didn't warn you Master," said Kreacher, Apparating out of the room.

Sirius sighed, opening his trunk. His parents weren't exactly fanatical fans of the Dark Lord, but anyone who showed any kind of support for muggles was an immediate enemy to them. Sirius started throwing clothes back into his closet, when he heard his door slam open. Sirius jumped, thinking it was his father, but it was just his brother. "Hey Sirius, Kreacher just said…" Regulus cut himself off and stared at the pictures plastered around Sirius's room. "Wow…"

"Yeah, I've decided to make my room a little more colourful," said Sirius. "What do you think?"

"I think mum and dad are going to kill you," said Regulus. "Like, not just punish you a little bit. Actually kill you."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Sirius, finding more of his stuff put to away. "Did you want something, or…"

"Nah, just wanted to see how much trouble were going to get into," said Regulus. "Speaking of which, is that…" Before he could finish his sentence, Sirius heard the booming of footsteps outside his room, following by his father's large frame filling the doorway.

"So, this is what Kreacher was talking about," said Orion Black, glaring down at his eldest son. "Regulus, would you please leave the room?"

"Well, it was nice knowing you Sirius," said Regulus, jumping off the bed and running out of the room.

"Hey dad," said Sirius, pretending to be ignorant to what his father was here about. "What's up?"

"What's up?" snapped his father, causing Sirius to jump. "What the hell do you think is up?"

"The sky?" asked Sirius, thinking that trying to be funny was the right way to go in this situation. It wasn't.

"So, you like muggles now?" asked Orion, his voice very dangerous as he looked around the room. "Who's the mudblood who gave you these?"

Sirius gulped. "How'd you know?" he asked.

"I didn't," said Orion. "I guessed, and you just confirmed it." Sirius silently cursed himself for being so stupid. "So, what's her name?"

"How'd you…" started Sirius, then shut up again. Unfortunately, it was too late.

"Wow, you are easy to get information out of," said Orion. "Don't commit a crime kid, most interrogators are much harsher than this. Now, give me her name." This time, Sirius stayed quiet. "Oh, you're learning, are you? Well, let's see how well you hold your tongue against this." Sirius gulped again as Orion grabbed Sirius's old broomstick that was leaning against a wall…

Later this night, Sirius was still rubbing several very tender feeling areas. Orion got bored with just using the broom very quickly, and found it was more 'fun' to use his fists. But Sirius refused to talk, which frustrated his father even more. He even tried his normal tactic of guessing names, but fortunately his father didn't know many of his classmate's names.

After his beating, Sirius had just lay in his room for nearly an hour. He could hardly move with how much pain he was in, and the shock of the brutality of the assault. Eventually, he'd peeled himself off the floor and checked his books, hoping for a spell or an easy to make potion to dull the pain, or at least take away some of the bruising, but no luck.

At least Sirius had been allowed to keep the posters, if only because his father couldn't risk removing them. He didn't know any spells for undoing the permanent stick charm, and burning them could destroy the whole house (which would be interesting, seeing as how their house was supposed to be hidden).

Sirius threw himself back down on the bed and smiled, even though it hurt. He had protected a friend, despite what it had cost him. And he had no intention of telling Lily, she didn't need to know what was happening at home to him on her behalf.

**Author's note: Hey guys, sorry this chapter was delayed, had some laptop issues and lost a bit of progress with the chapter. It least it wasn't too much (and I thought to back everything up a couple of days beforehand, so I didn't lose anything too important). See you guys next time.**


	9. Supporting a Friend

Chapter 9: Supporting a Friend

The boys were sitting in Transfiguration, waiting for Professor McGonagall to show up. "I wonder where she is," said Remus. "She's not normally this late."

"You think they'll cancel class?" asked Peter.

"Nah, they normally just get someone else to cover," said Sirius. "Who do you think they'll send?"

"This kind of subject is too specialized to just send anyone," said James. "I reckon it'll be Dumbledore himself."

"What? No," said Remus. "It's just the one class, all they really need to do is read from a textbook. I'm sure Slughorn or Flitwick could do that, even if they don't know Transfiguration that well."

"Maybe…" started Sirius, as the doors opened. "Never mind, here she…" Sirius cut himself short as he looked behind him to see a cat walk into the room. "What…" was all he could manage as the cat strolled forward with a sense of purpose, as though it belonged there.

"Maybe McGonagall sent the cat to teach us today?" asked Peter, causing many of the students to snicker.

The cat reached the front of the classroom and turned to face them. Suddenly, it changed into Professor McGonagall, causing a few students to jump in surprise. "Very close, Mr. Pettigrew," said McGonagall, a small smirk on her face. "But that entrance was to demonstrate today's lesson. Does anyone know what it might be?"

"Is it about animagi?" asked Lily.

"Very good Miss Evans," said McGonagall. "Yes, today we will be learning about animagi, the ability to turn into an animal."

"Will we have to learn how to do this?" asked Peter.

"No, Mr. Pettigrew," said McGonagall. "You see, to be an animagi, you are required to register this intent. Otherwise, you will face severe punishments, including time in Azkaban. Even those who are registered need a good reason. I, for example, was allowed to become one as a way of deeper understanding the art of transfiguration. On top of all that, it is an INCREDIBLY difficult skill to learn, and messing it up could be harmful."

"Is that how centaurs were made?" asked James, getting a laugh out of the class.

McGonagall simply glared at him. "Very funny, Mr. Potter," said McGonagall, in a voice that made it clear she didn't find it funny at all. "No, centaurs are their own species. However, that kind of deformity can occur when you don't know how to create your animagus form properly."

"Can you choose your animagus form?" asked Severus.

"No," said McGonagall. "The animal in question is predetermined based on things like your personality. If any of you have mastered the Patronus charm, you might find out what you'd transform into from that. There are so many fascinating aspects to an animagus, like how you can communicate with animals and how you are not limited to the animal's normal lifespan. Yes, even if you got an animal like an insect, whose lifespan is usually only a month at most, you could theoretically live like that for your normal human lifespan, though I don't think many of you would want to do that."

"So, are there many animagus out there?" asked a student in the back row.

"No, there's not," said McGonagall. "In fact, in the last century, there's only been seven registered. If you'll open your books to page 117, you can actually see a copy of the Register. You'll note that it is incredibly thorough with what I transform into, including information on colour, stripes and markings…"

Remus was sitting in the dormitory alone when James and Sirius burst in, with Peter slinking up the stairs behind them. "Remus, we've had a great idea," said Sirius.

"And it's a little insane," said James.

"What do you mean little?" asked Peter, looking a little worried at what was happening.

"I'm not sure I'm going to like what's about to happen, but continue," said Remus.

"Okay, now, hear me out," said Sirius. "We become animagi…"

"That's a horrible idea," said Remus. "Wait, that actually was a horrible idea. I just had that response ready to go because, well, it's one of your ideas."

"And I told you to hear me out," said Sirius. "Look, we all know the structural integrity of the Shrieking Shack is a little less than great…"

"That's an understatement," said Remus. "Last time I was there I think I nearly knocked a hole through one of the walls. I'm pretty sure Dumbledore's enchantments are they only thing holding that place together."

"Exactly," said Sirius. "So, our plan is this: we become animagi, and we can keep you in line, just in case you do manage to escape."

"Guys, no," said Remus. "You know what McGonagall said. If you screw up, it'll be pretty obvious what you were trying to do. On top of that, you have no idea what you'll turn into when you do transform. I'd love to see you try and keep me in line if you turn into a bunch of mosquitoes."

"Come on Remus," said James. "You know we're just going to do this anyway, so you might as well just be on board with this."

Remus sighed heavily. "Okay, fine," he said. "One question: do any of you know how to become an animagi?"

The other three stared at each other in confusion. "Guys, I think I found a flaw in our plan," said Peter.

"I knew it," said Remus, lying down in his bed.


	10. Bothering Snape

Chapter 10: Bothering Snape

"Well, this is boring," said Sirius, who was casually bouncing a rat he'd caught with the levitation charm. "Does anyone have any better ideas of what we should do?"

"We could do the homework we're supposed to have done for tomorrow," suggested Remus, which was met with laughter from the others. "Yeah, I figured that would probably be the response."

"Hexing Snape's always fun," said James. "Who's up for that?"

"Absolutely," said Peter. "I mean, if you guys are doing it too."

"Eh, sure," said Sirius nonchalantly.

"I'm going to just point out that doing it is bad for several reasons," said Remus. "First, Snape knows how to hex you back. Sometimes worse than whatever you hit him with. Remember the Broccoli Incident?"

"Hey, they stopped coming out of there after half an hour without a trip to Madame Pomfrey," said James.

"The other main problem is the fact that you still have a crush on Lily, better known as Severus's best friend," pointed out Remus.

"I'd argue that I'm her best friend, but continue," said Sirius.

"On top of that…" started Remus.

"Remus, your objections are heard and shall be promptly ignored," said Peter. "Now, let's mess with Severus." This comment was met with cheers from the other two as they headed off to find their victim, with Remus sighing in resignation.

"Guess I better make sure this doesn't get too out of hand," said Remus to himself as he followed them.

It didn't take long to find Severus, who was sitting outside in a quiet corner of a courtyard. "Okay, here's the plan," said James. "The four of us approach him from a different angle, and hit him with four different hexes at the same time."

"What do you mean 'us'?" asked Remus. "Like I always say when we do this, I'm here to stop anyone killing each other. Whatever happens here is between you and Severus."

"Wimp," said Peter.

"I'm sorry, how many times have I been hexed compared to you guys?" asked Remus. "That's right, zero. Severus knows I'm not involved in this, and leaves me alone."

"Fine, Remus is chickening out," said James. "It'll be just as funny with three hexes, I suppose."

"I don't think 'not participating in something that will hurt' counts as 'chickening out'," said Remus to himself, as the other three positioned themselves.

Severus didn't seem to notice the group, even though Remus was sure they'd been pretty obvious. Still, he kept watch from a distance, prepared to swoop in if necessary. Remus watched as the other three crept forwards with their wands drawn. It was only then that Remus saw Severus already had his wand out, just barely concealed by his robes. Before Remus could call out about the ambush, Severus struck.

"LEVICORPUS!" yelled Severus, catching James by surprise as he was suddenly flung into the air and hung upside down. Sirius and Peter jumped back in surprise, though Sirius was preparing to attack. "LANGLOCK!" Sirius went to cast something, but couldn't get any words out. It was as if his tongue had stopped working. Finally, Severus spun around to face Peter.

"H…hey, buddy," said Peter, nervously backing away. "So, ah, it was all their idea, and I was just going along with it because…uh…"

"Because you're a coward who can't think for himself and hides behind the protection of his much more powerful friends? Is that it?" asked Severus, venom dripping off every word. "Don't bother denying it, it's obvious to everyone who meets you."

"HA! You hear that?" called James, still hanging upside down. "Snivellus admits I'm a powerful wizard."

"Just because you're clearly talented doesn't mean you've earned an ounce of respect," said Severus, not even turning to acknowledge James. "Now, as for you Peter…"

"Please Severus…" begged Peter, as Severus raised his wand.

"SECT…" started Severus, just as he felt someone grab his arm.

"Enough, Severus," said Remus, gently lowering Severus's arm. "It's not brave to attack an opponent who's surrendered."

Severus glared at him for a moment. "Remus, I don't have much love for you or your friends," said Severus. "But at least you have the decency to not attack someone for no good reason. You'd do well to teach that to these friends of yours, or I might be a little less forgiving next time." Severus went back to the spot he was sitting earlier and picked up his book. He then grabbed a rock, and placed it under James's head. "Liberacorpus," he said, causing James to drop headfirst onto the rock before he left.

"Well, I hope you've all learned your lesson," said Remus, looking around at the three of them. "That Severus…"

"That we need to be even sneakier next time we decide to hex Snivellus," said James. "Got it." Sirius responded by nodding his head enthusiastically.

"James, you do realise you're bleeding from a head wound, right?" asked Remus.

James touched his forehead, then looked at his stained red hand. "So I am," said James. "Come on, we can come up with ideas on the way to the Hospital Wing." He left with the other three, leaving Remus behind shaking his head.

"Idiots," he muttered, before following them.


	11. Victory

Chapter 11: Victory

"And that's another excellent shot from the Ravenclaw team captain John Cooper," announced Piper Combs, a Slytherin 7th year. "The scores are tied at 90 each, with no sign of the snitch anywhere. I've never seen a game this tense, especially with both teams very firmly in the running for the House Cup. In fact, unless either of these teams gets a HUGE lead soon, the House Cup will go to whoever catches the snitch."

James grabbed the quaffle as their team's new keeper Neal threw it back in. Despite having let nine goals through so far, he'd also blocked fifteen other shots, while the Ravenclaw keeper had only blocked seven. Gryffindor seemed to be playing better, but not even close to enough to secure victory.

Every player was giving it their all. Tod and Hefin had been protecting their chasers and seeker with nothing less than extreme vigilance, and Heledd had been leading her fellow chasers James and Wilbur in scoring as many goals as possible. Their seeker Johnathan had been dashing back and forth over and over again, trying to find the snitch, and had seen no sign of it.

The game had been going for two hours so far, and none of the players from either side could afford to let up for any reason. Any second one of the seekers could see the snitch and it would all be over. All fourteen players had shown signs of exhaustion, but none of them were acknowledging it.

James flew for the ring on his right-hand side of the Ravenclaw goals, preparing to make his shot. The Ravenclaw keeper, a fourth year named Steve Blood, flew in to stop it, when James switched the quaffle to his left hand and hurled it at the goal furthest away. Steve tried to fly over to the goal to stop it, but Wilbur was already there to make sure the red ball went through.

"And Gryffindor respond with the Potter-MacRae one-two punch," called Piper. "Gryffindor lead 100 to 90."

James flew past Wilbur and gave him a high five, before getting ready for the quaffle to return to the field. The three Gryffindor chasers spaced themselves out, ready to try and catch it no matter where Steve threw it, but the Ravenclaw chasers were quicker. "AFTER THEM!" yelled Heledd, though James and Wilbur were already hot on the tail of David Rees, who was proving to be a surprisingly good player despite being one of the youngest on the field.

"BLUDGER COMING IN!" boomed Tod's voice, and James watched as an iron ball flew past just feet away from him, aimed at the back of David's head.

David was no idiot though, and easily dodged the bludger without so much as a glance behind him. James smiled, because he knew this manoeuvre. Tod and Hefin had done it several times before.

Hefin, being directly in the bludgers path below, immediately smacked the incoming bludger right back at David. David, still riding the high of dodging the projectile from behind, didn't consider that it might be coming back from below. The bludger hit him in a spot where half the audience (including the players) suddenly winced in pain for him.

"Ooh, that's gonna make it hard to have kids," said Piper from the commentary box. "Potter with the quaffle now. The scores up until now have never been more than a ten-point lead either side. Are Gryffindor about to change that?"

James zoomed past two Ravenclaw players, preparing himself to get another goal. He blocked out the cheers of the crowd, only the game mattered now. He was almost at the goals when…

"Ravenclaw's seeker has spotted the snitch!" called Piper excitedly. "But Gryffindor's Johnathan Samuels isn't far behind him. This could be it."

James turned to where Hefin was flying beside him. "HELP HIM!" yelled James. "Knock their seeker back, stop him somehow, just do something."

"Got it," said Hefin, spotting a bludger and aiming it at Ravenclaw's seeker. James nodded at Tod, getting him to go after another bludger. With the others doing their bit to save the game for the team, James dedicated his focus on scoring another goal. He knew it wasn't going to make a difference either way, but there wasn't much else he could do at the moment. As he lined up to throw the quaffle, he heard it…

"Ooh, Hefin's gonna feel that in the morning," said Piper. "Though Ravenclaw seeker Gavin Rooney may need to get that leg checked out after the match. Samuels now has a commanding lead for the snitch, as long as nothing happens to him."

'Excellent,' thought James, watching as Johnathan flew between himself and the goal, desperately reaching for the snitch. 'We've got thi…oh no.' Johnathan, so focused on grabbing the snitch, wasn't looking to his left, where Ravenclaw beater Trevor Lawrence had just smacked a bludger in his direction.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed James, but Johnathan was too in the zone. James looked around quickly, but none of his teammates were close enough to help. James took a deep breath, knowing exactly what he had to do. James flew as quickly as he could, watching the bludger get closer and closer to its intended target. 'Don't be too late, don't be too late, don't be too late…'

CRACK! James felt a sharp pain explode through his chest as he took the bludger straight to the chest, but at that moment he didn't care. He'd bought his teammate some more time to grab the snitch. James's vision grew dim, and he felt himself slip from his broom. 'I hope this was worth it…' he thought, throwing away the quaffle as he fell to the ground…

"I still can't believe he did that," said someone nearby. "I mean, I've seen heroic plays, but just…that was gutsy."

"It's definitely not a move I've seen very often, especially not at a school level," came McGonagall's voice.

James's eyes flickered open, and saw the roof of the Hospital Wing above him. "He's awake," said Sirius from somewhere next to him. "James, buddy, you okay?"

"What…happened?" asked James, still a bit groggy from being unconscious. "Did we win?"

"James, what you did was extremely dangerous and could easily have gone horribly wrong and left you with way more than a concussion and five broken ribs," said McGonagall in a tone that suggested she should be scolding him but couldn't bring herself to do it. "But…" Before McGonagall could finish her sentence, Heledd lifted up a huge trophy and plopped it on the bed next to James.

"James, if you ever do something that crazy again…" started Heledd, before smiling from ear to ear. "We might just have a few more of these before you leave Hogwarts."

"I really shouldn't encourage this…" said McGonagall, but nobody was listening to her.

"Honestly man, thank you," said Johnathan. "I didn't even know there was a bludger nearby until I'd already caught the snitch. You're the whole reason we won. Rooney didn't leave the pitch even though he had a broken leg, so without you to block for me he'd have just kept going."

"You were really brave," said a girl's voice, and James turned in surprise to see Lily standing there. "I didn't think anyone would do something like that, much less you."

"Th…thank you," stammered James, still shocked to see Lily visiting him.

"Right, I think Mr. Potter is done with visitors," snapped Madame Pomfrey, marching into the room. "Honestly Professor, I'd have thought you'd know better than to let him have so many people crowding around him at once."

"Poppy, he just won his team the Quidditch Cup," retorted McGonagall.

"Minerva, look at me," said Pomfrey. "Is this the face of someone who cares? He'll be out of here by this evening with a little rest, he can celebrate then."

McGonagall sighed. "Okay, you all heard Madame Pomfrey," she said. "Everyone out, let Mr. Potter rest." There were murmurs of disagreement, but not so loud that they couldn't hear McGonagall mutter 'spoilsport' as they left.

"I heard that Minerva," said Pomfrey, checking on one of the Ravenclaw players in a nearby bed.

James just lay back in his bed, grinning like an idiot. Lily came to see him. Maybe there was still hope for him with her. After realising that, winning the Cup for his team was only a secondary victory for him.


	12. So Long, and Thanks for all the Pranks

Chapter 12: So Long, and Thanks for all the Pranks

"Well, it's time I guess," said Patricia, facing the four boys. "It's the end of my time at Hogwarts."

"You could ask to be held back a year," suggested Peter.

"Why would anyone do that?" asked Remus. "Especially when they've got a very promising career at Gringotts as a career lined up."

"Exactly," said Patricia. "It'll be great to test my skills as a Curse-Breaker before pursuing my ultimate goal."

"And what would that be exactly?" inquired Remus.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," said Patricia.

"I know, that why I was asking," said Remus, but Patricia was ignoring him now.

"James," said Patricia, turning her attention to him. "That girl you're into, she's totally into you too, even if she won't admit it yet. Honestly, after that last Quidditch game, I'm surprised you aren't surrounded by an army of adoring fans."

"Thanks Pat," said James. "But how do I get her to…"

"Look, your biggest obstacle will be Severus," said Patricia. "Once you get him out of the way, then you should be okay."

"Are you suggesting killing him?!" cried James.

"…maybe leave that to a last resort," said Patricia. "And I mean, like, LAST last resort. Seriously, try everything else before that, and even then, make it your idea, not mine."

"Thanks Patricia," said James, as she turned to face the next of the boys.

"Sirius," said Patricia. "I know about your family. How they treat people, especially anyone loyal to muggles and muggle borns."

"How did you…" started Sirius, as Patricia cut him off.

"You don't graduate on top of the class at Hogwarts without being pretty damn smart," said Patricia. "But what I want to say is that: family doesn't end in blood. I really hope you figure that out before something happens to you."

"Th-thanks," said Sirius, as Patricia moved on to the third of the boys.

"Speaking of secrets, Remus," she said. "I know yours."

"You…know?" asked Remus. "How? How much? When did…?"

"Like I said, I'm smart. I know these things," said Patricia. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you only seemed to disappear around the full moon. Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything to anyone about it."

"That's good," said Remus, sounding relieved. "But what can I do about it?"

"Honestly, at this point, nothing," said Patricia. Remus lowered his head in disappointment. "But that doesn't mean you can't live a full life. You're a smart kid, Remus. You can work something out. And witches and wizards are inventing new potions every day. Maybe someday they'll come up with something for lycanthropy."

"I hope so," said Remus, as Patricia turned to the fourth and final boy.

"Peter," said Patricia. "You are a way better wizard than you give yourself credit for. And someday, I hope to meet up with you again to take care of…you know…"

"Yes," said Peter. "I'll keep looking into it for you."

"Wait, what?" asked Remus. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Patricia, are you coming?" called one of the other seventh year girls. "Stop hanging around with the kids for once."

"Coming," called Patricia, facing the group again. "Well, that's my cue to leave. Until the day we meet again boys…" And with that, Patricia turned and began making her way to the train with a group of girls from her own year level.

"But seriously, what were you talking about?" asked Remus.

"Something secret between me and Patricia," said Peter conspiratorially.

"You and Patricia?" asked Sirius. "No way, she's way out of your league. You could never…I mean, with her? No way."

"Especially since he's…you know, Peter," said James, but by this point Peter wasn't paying attention to them. His mind was focused on one thing: continuing the research Patricia started into the Cursed Vaults.


	13. Too Cool

Chapter 13: Too Cool

**Author's note: Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that the first chapter of this story has just been featured on the YouTube channel Reads & Reactions. Please check it out, the video's called The Marauders (Harry Potter fandom) reading. Alright, on to the chapter.**

"There he is," said Angela Watkins, a Hufflepuff fourth year, watching as Sirius walked past with his friends. "He just acts like he doesn't care. Isn't he cool?"

"If that's what you're into," said Robin Montgomery, a girl in the same year but in Ravenclaw. "But I have to admit there is a sort of…charm to his appearance."

"You should ask him out," said Patricia Stephenson, a Gryffindor fourth year. "Like you said, he just acts like he doesn't care. Only an idiot would be stupid to ignore someone like you."

"I don't know…" said Angela.

"Just go for it," said Barbara Dennis, a Slytherin in the same year as her friends. "The worst he can say is no, right? Besides, I totally saw him checking you out."

"WHAT?!" yelped Angela, before covering her mouth, suddenly aware of how loud she'd been. "You did not."

"I did," said Barbara. "He's always discreet about it though, but it was definitely you he was looking at."

"But…why me?" asked Angela. "Robin is way cuter than me, and…"

"Fine, I'll ask him out then," said Robin, starting to get up.

"NO! He's mine," said Angela, shoving Robin back into her chair, though not making any kind of move to get up herself.

"So…are you gonna do it?" asked Patricia.

"I will," assured Angela, still sitting in her chair. "I'm just trying to come up with the best way to…approach the situation."

"She's chicken," said Patricia.

"AM NOT!" yelled Angela, again covering her mouth at how loud she was.

"Then prove it," said Barbara. "Go up there, and ask him out. Or the rest of us will. And let's face it, what teenage boy could resist three girls throwing themselves at him at the same time?"

Angela screwed up her face in frustration. "Fine," she snapped. "But I hate all of you." And with that outburst, Angela finally got up and started walking towards Sirius.

"Did you really see Sirius checking her out?" asked Robin.

"Pfft, no," said Barbara. "I just want her to stop pining over him and actually do something about it."

"She's going to fail, isn't she?" asked Patricia.

"Probably," said Robin. "But we'll be right here to support her when it happens."

"As soon as we're finished laughing at her," said Barbara, getting a small laugh from the other two.

Meanwhile, Angela was approaching Sirius. "Okay," she said quietly to herself. "Just do it. Just ask him. He's just a guy. He can only say no. He probably isn't as much of a jerk as he tries to make it look like he is. Just go for it. Just…"

"Hi there," said Sirius, who had turned around while Angela had been muttering to herself.

"Oh, ah, hi," said Angela, who felt her heart leap into her throat upon seeing Sirius right in front of her AND talking to her. "So, uh, hey, I, uh, want to ask you something…"

"Uh huh," said Sirius nonchalantly.

"So, uh, you know, I was wondering, 'coz, we have that Hogsmeade visit next week, so, I, uh," said Angela, fumbling over all the words. Angela took a deep breath. 'Well, here goes nothing,' she thought. "WillyougotoHogsmeadewithme?" Angela looked up at Sirius for a moment, waiting for his answer. Each second seemed like agony, and Angela was afraid she'd spoken too quickly for him to understand.

"Hmm…" started Sirius. "Nah." And with that, Sirius and his friends left, talking and laughing with each other.

Angela stared in shock after him, wondering what just happened. Did she say something to offend him? Did he not like her like that? What was the reason for his very quick response to reject her? Angela just sighed and went back to her friends, moping.

Meanwhile, Sirius and his friends were talking about what just happened.

"So, how long did you know she was there?" asked James.

"Pretty much from the moment we walked past her," said Sirius. "You don't think I don't notice how half the girls here are always checking me out?"

"Yeah, right," said Peter, disbelieving.

"Still, don't you think that was a little harsh?" asked Remus.

"I guess," said Sirius, shrugging his shoulders. "But I have my reasons." As he said this, Sirius saw Lily out of the corner of his eye. Shaking his head to get those thoughts out of his mind, Sirius continued down the hallway with his friends.


	14. Snape the Sneak

Chapter 14: Snape the Sneak

Severus kept his distance as he watched the four boys walking through the halls. He was getting sick of them, always pulling pranks or hexing him. He knew they probably would do something eventually to be expulsion worthy, but until then Snape had to actually catch them in the act.

The Marauders had turned a corner, and Severus was well aware that they could just be waiting around the other side to catch him by surprise, even though he was sure they weren't aware of his presence. Severus had been preparing for something like this however, and pulled a small mirror out of his pocket.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Severus whispered, and the mirror floated up to near the roof. No-one would have any reason to see it up there, and Severus could quite clearly see that the Marauders were still heading down the hallway. Sighing in relief, Severus turned the corner and continued following them, using the mirror to keep an eye on them.

Soon, the group was in an empty classroom, and Severus snuck up to the door, trying to listen in. Unfortunately, Snape couldn't hear anything clearly through the door. 'I'll have to come up with a spell for that,' said Snape, trying to figure out if he could sneak into the classroom undetected. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind.

Other students had walked past in the meantime, several of them whispering among themselves. Severus knew they were talking about him, looking shady outside a classroom, but he didn't care. Only the Marauders mattered, specifically getting rid of them.

"Hey Severus," called someone, and Severus jumped in surprise when he saw Lily hurrying towards him. "What you doing here?"

"Oh, ah, nothing," said Severus, getting up from the floor where he was trying to listen to them under the door.

"Why were you on the floor then?" asked Lily. "Is this anything to do with James and the others?"

"No…" said Severus, then saw the look Lily was giving him. "Maybe."

"Damn it, Severus," said Lily. "Can't you guys just leave each other alone for one second?"

"I will when he does," said Severus. "And the best way to do that is to get rid of him."

"Severus…" sighed Lily. "I really hope you boys will grow out of this silly feud one day. It'll probably be the death of us."

"Oh, please…" started Severus, as Lily began leading him away.

Meanwhile, inside the classroom…

"Is he gone?" asked Remus.

"I think so," said Sirius. "I just heard Lily's voice, so she probably led him away."

"Let's hope so," said James. "I'm pretty sure he's trying to find out what we've been up to."

"As if," said Peter. "He'll never find out about…"

"HUSH!" said Remus. "In case he hasn't left yet."

"Surely we'd know if he was still here," said Sirius. "Now we can get down to business. Has anyone discovered how to…"

"I thought we agreed we wouldn't discuss it out loud," said James. "Just because of the possibility that Severus might be listening."

"Or anyone, for that matter," said Remus. "Since, you know, what you've been planning is kind of illegal."

"Listen, what's the worst that could happen?" asked Sirius. "Besides, when we're older we could just say we decided to learn how to do it."

"Didn't McGonagall say you needed a reason to become one?" asked Remus. "What's your reason going to be?"

The other three were silent for a moment. "Guys, I think I found a flaw in our plan," said Peter.

"Idiots," muttered Remus.


	15. Eureka

Chapter 15: Eureka

"OW! You stepped on my foot," whispered Peter.

"You shouldn't have been so close then," hissed Sirius.

"Like I can help that right now," Peter snapped back at him.

"Guys, shut up," said James. "Do you want to get caught?"

"Not particularly," muttered Peter.

"Good. Because we're nearly there now," said James, leading the group to the rope that separated the regular part of the library from the Restricted Section.

"Okay, so how do we get through?" asked Sirius.

"The rope's charmed, apparently," said James. "If a student touches it, the rope retaliates by tying them up until a teacher comes to untie them. So, as long as we don't touch it…"

"Wingardium Levo…" started Peter, before James stopped him.

"Touching it includes magically," said James. "So…" James got out from under his Invisibility Cloak, and got down on the floor, carefully crawling under the rope.

"Really?" asked Peter, as Sirius followed James in the same way. Peter sighed, before following them. "That seemed too easy."

"That's because it's not the only line of defence in here," said James. "Do you have any idea how many of these books have some kind of jinx or curse to alert someone we're here right now?"

"Then why are we risking this?" asked Peter. "Couldn't we wait for daylight, and ask for…"

"NO!" cried Sirius, covering his mouth when he realised how loud he'd been. When no-one came, he continued in a quieter voice. "What would we tell Madam Pince if we told her we needed a book like this? She'd get very suspicious, probably tell McGonagall. We need to keep this VERY quiet."

"Which is why you need to be as quiet as possible when we do this," said James. "Right now, Remus is out there as a monster, and as his friends we're gonna support him in a way only we can."

"You know we could just support him the old-fashioned way," said Peter. "You know, morally."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" asked Sirius. "Granted, this way's a little more illegal…"

"LITTLE?!" cried Peter, before he himself covered his mouth because of the noise he made.

"I knew I should have come by myself," muttered James. "Okay guys, split up. If you find a book that looks promising, don't open it, just bring it back here, and we'll open them together. Hopefully we find one that isn't going to set off an alarm."

"And if we do?" asked Peter.

"Blame you like we always do," said Sirius, shrugging his shoulders.

"HEY!" cried Peter again, watching as his friends set off to look for some books that could help them. He sighed, and went off to see what he could find.

James was quietly reading the titles of some of the books to himself. "Let's see…'Playing with Polyjuice'…maybe some other time. 'Technically Legal Quidditch Moves'…interesting. 'Dark Arts and Where to Find Them'…I don't think Newt Scamander would approve of this book. Ah, here we go: 'The Secret of Animagi'." James carefully got the book off the shelf and headed back to the entrance…

…and saw Mrs. Lewis staring at him from just outside. She meowed loudly, to make it quite clear she had seen him. 'Damn it,' James thought, picking up his invisibility cloak.

"Is someone there Mrs. Lewis?" came Filch's voice from nearby.

'Double damn it,' thought James, racing back into the Restricted Section. He had to find the others quickly, to make sure they knew Filch was here.

It wasn't long until James ran into Peter. "Was that…" started Peter.

"Yep, Filch is here," said James. "We need to find Sirius. I found a book, but…" Suddenly, the two of them heard a loud crash, just outside the Restricted Section. "Oh no…" James and Peter dashed forward to the front of the Restricted Section, hiding behind a bookshelf. There they saw Filch dragging Sirius behind him by his ear. Sirius himself was tied up in the Restricted Section's rope.

"You thought you could sneak in here and get away with it, eh?" asked Filch, trying to subdue the struggling Sirius.

"Done it before," said Sirius.

"Well, you're dumber than I thought," said Filch, dragging him towards the library doors. "Let's see what Professor McGonagall has to say about this. Come on, Mrs. Lewis." The cat looked on into the Restricted Section for a couple more seconds, before following her master.

Sirius, however, noticed his friends still hiding among the shelves, and winked as he went past. "He did that on purpose," whispered Peter. "He knew Filch would find us, and let himself be caught so we could keep looking."

"Well, let's not waste this then," said James. "Get ready to write down how to do this."

"Right," said Peter, pulling out a piece of parchment, a quill, and an inkbottle as James opened the book. "What do we need to do?"

"Okay…looks like there's a potion we need to brew. We can probably do that in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. No-one goes in there apparently. We also need to hold a mandrake leaf in our mouth for a month…wow, that's gonna be difficult to hide. The other ingredients won't be too hard to get. And we need to leave it in a dark place until a lightning storm."

"This is getting complicated," said Peter.

"Hey, we knew it wasn't going to be easy," said James, closing the book as Peter finished writing everything down. "Now, I'll go put this back, and we can go back to bed."


	16. What Have We Become?

Chapter 16: What Have We Become?

Lightning crashed outside as the three boys crouched around the phials that had been hidden for the last seven weeks. "This could be it boys," said James. "We may be about to become animagi."

"Let's hope so," said Sirius. "Otherwise we have to do it over the summer, and I don't know if my parents are going to be as accommodating as yours are."

"Look, we've got spare leaves if we need them," said James. "We'll be fine. Hopefully."

"And we're sure we did everything right?" asked Peter. "If we screwed up this time…"

"Look, we revisited that book about six times, double checking that we hadn't missed an instruction," said James. "We held mandrake leaves in our mouths between full moons, which we put into phials in the moon's rays. We put in our hair, we added the dew, we added the moth bits. We recited the enchantment every day until now. What's there to worry about?"

"That we still missed something," said Peter miserably. "I know we read the book from cover to cover, but…"

"Exactly," said Sirius. "We read everything, we got all the instructions, we know what the risks are, and we agreed to try this anyway."

"You're gonna make me do this regardless, aren't you?" asked Peter.

"We all agreed to this, no back out now," said Sirius. "And to make sure you don't chicken out, you go first."

"WHAT?!" yelped Peter, before realising how loud he'd been."

"Oh? Is someone here?" asked a girl's voice, one with an unmistakably high pitch.

"Great, now she knows we're here," said James, as Moaning Myrtle poked her head through the wall of one of the cubicles.

"Eww, what are _boys_ doing in _my_ bathroom?" demanded Myrtle.

"Being bad, what does it look like?" asked Sirius, trying to ignore her.

"Ooh, I could tell on you," said Myrtle mischievously. "You could get in trouble…"

"Please don't," said James. "We've spent too long on this to be stopped now."

"But why shouldn't I?" asked Myrtle. "What are your names?"

"I'm Peter, he's Sirius, he's James," answered Peter.

"James? James Potter?" asked Myrtle.

"You…know me?" asked James. Myrtle answered by giggling conspiratorially. "What? What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," said Myrtle. "It's just something I heard."

"From who?" asked James.

"Oh, just some girl who comes in here sometimes," said Myrtle. "What was her name again? Lucy? Lola? Leah? Something beginning with an L."

"Lily?" asked James.

"Maybe," said Myrtle, giggling to herself. "She talks about you all the time, and all I can say is…she has a point." Myrtle started giggling again, and flew through the floor of the bathroom, leaving the boys alone.

"Wait, what does she say about me?" asked James, staring at the floor where Myrtle disappeared.

"James, buddy, we need to focus," said Sirius, grabbing James's shoulder. "We only have tonight, and we have to do it before the storm ends." Sirius then turned to Peter. "Drink the potion, now."

Peter sighed. "Guess I don't have a choice," he moaned, taking his phial and down it in one gulp. Peter winced as it went down, then stared into the mirror.

"Well?" asked Sirius, looking at him. "Anything?"

"No, nothing yet," said Peter. "Maybe we…wait…" Peter's face suddenly twitched, and his arms started shrinking. "Oh God, it's happening." As he was speaking, Peter's nose began to get more pointed, while his head shrank back into his shirt. Peter seemed to be trying to scream, but it was coming out more as a series of squeaks. Soon, there were no more sounds, just a pile of clothes where Peter had been.

"Peter?" asked James. "You okay in there buddy?" James picked up Peter's shirt, and saw a rat sitting in there. "Holy crap…"

"Well, now we know it works," said Sirius. "At least, we know we can turn into something. We're just not sure if we can turn back."

"Come on Peter, turn back," said James. "Turn back buddy." Nothing happened for a few seconds.

"Maybe he can't understand…" started Sirius, as the rat suddenly started expanding, and all of a sudden Peter was standing there. "Never mind."

"Oh my God guys, you have to try this," said Peter excitedly. "It was so cool."

"Yeah? You know what else is cool?" asked James. "Putting some fricken clothes on."

Peter looked down at himself, and saw he was naked. "Oh, right," he said, quickly grabbing his underwear and started putting it on. "Come on guys, you gotta try it."

"Just a thought," said Sirius. "What if me and James aren't little animals like you? We could end up ripping our clothes to shreds."

"Good point," said James. "We better get into a stall. We don't need to see each other naked."

"Nah-uh," said Peter, putting on his shirt. "The book said wide open space. Probably in case you become something big. You really think a big animal will fit in one of those stalls?"

"Wait, then that means…" started James.

"Yep," said Peter, smiling smugly.

"Okay guys, remember: we need to look into how to keep our clothes on during transformations," said Sirius, removing his shirt. "If McGonagall can do it, so can we."

"We should have looked into this first," said James, starting on his pants. "If I'd known tonight would lead to seeing both of you naked, I would have reconsidered this."

"Coulda, woulda, shoulda," said Peter, who'd turned his back while his friends were undressing. "Now drink up quickly, before the storm ends."

"Here goes," said James, downing his phial in one go, Sirius doing the same behind him.

There was no sound for a moment, and Peter was getting worried. "Guys?" he said, looking over his shoulder…

…just as a large black dog jumped on his chest. Peter let out a surprised yelp as the dog pushed him to the floor, snarling viciously as its face pressed closer to his. Peter continued to whimper as a large stag watched from the other side of the room. "Please…" begged Peter, as the dog suddenly stopped growling and licked him right across the face. "BLEH!" spat Peter as he wiped the dog saliva of his face…

…only to be greeted with the smiling face of Sirius, now lying on top of him. "Hey," said Sirius. "How's it going?"

"Really? Not cool," said Peter. "You know you're still naked, right?"

"Well aware of it," said Sirius. "But it's worth it to make you uncomfortable."

"Come on Sirius," said James, who'd transformed back into his human form and had put his underwear back on while the two of them had been on the floor. "We should get back to the dorm before anyone notices we're not there."

"I suppose," sighed Sirius, climbing off Peter and grabbing his clothes. "Are you sure you don't like what you see?"

"Positive," said Peter, grabbing the Invisibility Cloak and their equipment while his friends got dressed.


	17. Taming the Beast

Chapter 17: Taming the Beast

"Nobody saw us, right?" asked Peter, as they crept out the front doors of the castle.

"Nope," said James. "Well, maybe Mrs. Lewis, but who's she going to tell?"

"I'm pretty sure it's just a rumour that cats can see through invisibility cloaks," said Sirius. "Otherwise, wouldn't she just pull the thing off and expose us?"

"Shut up nerd," said James. "We already filled that role when we made friends with Remus."

"Guys, we're here," said Peter, pointing towards the Whomping Willow.

"Okay guys, do we remember the plan?" asked James. "Everyone practice keeping their clothes on while transforming?"

"I got so good at using Reparo over the summer," said Sirius. "Seriously, my favourite shirt probably needed to be fixed about twenty times."

"Excellent," said James. "How about you Peter?"

"Umm…" he started. "Well, you see…"

"Come on man," said James. "Do you think any of us enjoy seeing your butt every time you transform?"

"Look, it's not my fault my animagus form comes with very little consequence when it comes to possibly destroying clothes," said Peter.

James gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine, whatever, just shut down the tree."

"Okay, just bring my clothes with you when you come after me," said Peter, as he began changing into his rat form. Once he was finished, he scurried out from under the cloak towards the knot on the tree's trunk.

"I'm not grabbing his clothes," said Sirius.

"Neither am I," said James.

"Guess they're staying here overnight then," said Sirius.

"Isn't it meant to rain tonight?" asked James.

"Yep," said Sirius.

"Thought so," said James, as Peter hit the knot. "Come on, let's go."

The boys followed Peter as he scampered down the tunnel as a rat, the two of them staying under the cloak. "Do you think he's already transforming?" asked Sirius.

"Hope not," said James. "I don't want to try turning into a stag while still down in here."

"Look, on the plus side, Peter's here. Maybe Remus will eat him first," said Sirius.

"He wouldn't be much of a snack through," said James. "At least we'd make up a decent meal."

"What would happen if Remus swallowed Peter whole, then Peter turned back into a human in his stomach?" asked Sirius.

"I don't even want to think about that," said James. "Okay, we're here. Let's do this." James pushed the trapdoor up a little, and saw Remus was on the floor, his body convulsing in pain. "Okay, he's still human-ish, let's go." James pushed the trapdoor up, and climbed into the Shrieking Shack, quickly followed by Sirius and Peter.

Remus heard the intrusion, and spun around in shock. "You…you guys…" he said, as his legs suddenly changed shape with a sickening crunching sound, causing another gasp of pain from Remus. "You can't…"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," said Sirius. "We just have something cool to show you."

"What…?" wheezed Remus, his arms snapping into place and hair beginning to grow everywhere. "Why…?"

"Watch this," said James, and all of a sudden James had turned himself into a stag.

Remus stared in shock, almost not even noticing his nose stretching out of his face. "When did…"

"End of last year," replied Sirius. "Cool huh? Well, maybe not Peter's form. That rat there is him. But I become this." And without another word, Sirius changed into his dog form, much to Remus's continued astonishment.

Remus was amazed with his friends. They'd gone to the effort of finding out how to become animagi, something that not even his parents would do. Werewolves often attacked themselves when there weren't people around for them to kill, or other animals to keep them company. The rest of his transformation was painful like always, but seemed more bearable with his friends around.

But then he could feel something was wrong. His werewolf mind knew there were other animals nearby instinctively, but after ten years of no companionship, his feral mind was resentful, angry. It knew there were people in the nearby village, and it wanted to rip them to shreds. Remus fought these instincts, but nothing could stop what was about to happen. 'This is bad,' he thought. 'The protection spells Dumbledore put on this place have been weakening, I'm not sure if they'll hold.'

As Remus finished his transformation, he howled loudly, and turned his attention to the front door of the Shack, and ran at it at full force. The building shook, and though the door managed to hold, it was clear it wouldn't take another blow like that.

The wolf backed up to take another run at it, when it was suddenly thrown back by the antlers of a stag. The wolf, angered by its foiled attempt to escape, leapt at the beast, only to be tackled by a huge black dog. The wolf growled at the dog, but the other canine just growled back. Meanwhile, the stag stood above it, looking ready to charge again if it had to.

The wolf looked around, trying to see if there was another weak point to possibly attack. Unfortunately, the windows had all been boarded up fairly recently, making them poor targets for an attack. There was a small kitchen to the wolf's right that neither of the big animals were blocking, though the door leading to the outside back there was blocked off too. Still, it was only as sealed as the front door, so if he hit hard enough, he might make it through.

The wolf made a sudden dash for freedom, and the dog quickly gave chased. Unfortunately, the wolf was faster, and managed to hit the kitchen door with enough force to smash a small hole through it. The wolf's snout was outside, causing it to start desperately clawing for freedom.

That's when the dog grabbed the wolf by the back of the neck and dragged it back in. The wolf growled at the dog, and pounced at it, bringing it to the floor. But the wolf had forgotten about the stag, that charged into the small kitchen and knocked the wolf onto the floor.

The stag pushed the werewolf onto its back and pinned it with its massive body. The wolf continued to struggle, but was soon realising that it was pointless. They had won. The dog calmly walked up to the wolf, even when the wolf started snapping at it. The dog took no notice of this as it bent down, and gave the wolf a quick lick.

The wolf stopped moving at the contact. This was some of the first contact it had ever had, and it was…gentle. The wolf started to relax a little, as the stag also leaned down and nuzzled the wolf. The wolf was starting to calm down now, and stopped trying to attack the two creatures pinning him to the ground.

Finally, a rat appeared on top of one of the kitchen counters. The dog and the stag seemed slightly concerned about this, as though the wolf was going to attack at the sight of such a small animal. However, when the rat approached, the wolf just gave an appreciative lick, much to the rat's disgust.

The stag took this as a sign that the wolf had calmed down, and slowly allowed the wolf to get up. The dog got ready to pounce, in case the wolf tried something, but when the wolf was finally standing again, it just stood up, and did nothing violent. Instead, it came up to the dog and gently nuzzled its neck. The other animals seemed relieved, now that the wolf was pacified.

* * *

Remus woke up the following morning, with the sound of rain pounding outside the shack. He shivered in the cold, and started making his way towards the exit…

…and saw James and Sirius sitting on the ruined couches of the living room. "What the hell guys?" snapped Remus, grabbing a ruined shred of curtain to wrap around his waist. "What are you…" Suddenly, the events from last night came rushing back to him. "You were here last night. And you…you became…"

"Animagi, yes," said Sirius. "It wasn't easy, you know. But we managed to calm down your wolf form, so that was pretty cool."

"I guess…" said Remus. "Hey, where's Peter?"

"Oh, he left early," said James. "Probably has something to do with the fact we left his clothes in front of the Whomping Willow, and now it's raining."

"Serves him right for not practicing keeping them on during transformations," said Sirius. "So yeah, last night was pretty cool. We should do it again, now that you're tame. We might even start going outside."

"Guys, do you have any idea how dangerous that…" started Remus, but James and Sirius were already climbing through the trapdoor to go back to Hogwarts. "Idiots," he muttered, before following them.


	18. The Map

Chapter 18: The Map

"Okay guys, hear me out," said James, putting several sheets of blank parchment of the table in front of the group. "We should make a map of the school."

"I would assume something like that already exists," said Remus. "I mean, the castle's hundreds of years old. Surely someone has done that at some point."

"Nope," said James. "I checked through most of the library's books on Hogwarts, and there was nothing about a map ever being created. I even asked Dumbledore, and he said he wasn't aware of it existing."

"You told Dumbledore about potential rule breaking?" asked Peter. "Isn't that the opposite of what we want to accomplish?"

"Relax," said James. "I told him I was just curious about some of the cool hidden secrets within the castle, and he said he'd be curious about that too. Apparently, there are some rooms in the castle that even he can't locate. Things like a room he accidentally came across full of chamber pots when he really needed to…"

"Gross," said Sirius. "But it also sounds like he's giving us permission to do this."

"That's what I got from that too," said James. "What do you guys think?"

"How did you get 'make a map of the school' from 'I found a room full of chamber pots'?" asked Remus.

"You just need to read between the lines," said James dismissively. "But what do you say? Peter could use his rat form to check out hard to access areas, me and Sirius can use our animal forms outside, we have the invisibility cloak…"

"Do you have any idea how many rules we'd be breaking?" asked Remus.

"Most of them," said James with the wave of his hand. "Are you in or not?"

"I'm happy to help," said Sirius. "Just one thing: wouldn't this take months? It's a huge castle, with hundreds, if not thousands of rooms. Hell, there are seven floors of the core castle, followed by all the basements, dungeons, and extra towers. Then there's all the grounds to cover. And we have to prepare for our O. W. L.'s this year."

"Did I say this was going to be easy?" asked James. "I'd be amazed if we finished this by the end of the school year."

"One last problem," said Remus. "Hogwarts is one of the last places that's not threatened by You-Know-Who. Something like this map could fall into the hands of him, or one of his followers. And then…"

"Way ahead of you," said James. "What we have to do is create a spell that makes us the only people able to read the map."

"That's even more difficult than the plan to create this thing in the first place," said Remus.

"I take it you won't be helping us then?" asked James.

"I didn't say that," said Remus, sighing. "I'm going along with this, only because if I don't, the rest of you will do something stupid and get hurt."

"Excellent," said James. "Now, next we have to work out shifts."

"Shifts?" asked Peter.

"Well, yeah," said James. "I mean, we can't all be doing stuff every night, otherwise we'd be up every night and not getting any sleep."

"James, how long have you been planning this?" asked Sirius.

"…Let's not worry about that," said James dismissively. "Now, obviously Friday and Saturday nights are fine since we don't have classes the next day, and we don't have anything too strenuous on Tuesdays or Fridays so I think…"

"You HAVE been planning this," accused Remus. "How long for, and why?"

James just sighed. "About a year," said James.

"A year?!" asked Sirius. "You've been planning this for a year?"

"Basically, since we worked out how to become animagi," said James. "I mean, we've already broken a ton of international wizarding laws by doing that, why can't we use it to learn more about the castle?"

"I mean, there's gotta be some cool room that no-one knows about," said Sirius.

"Exactly," said James. "And I learned a new spell so we can get everything to scale."

"How the hell is it that you can put this much thought and effort into rule breaking, but only have an A average for your grades?" asked Remus.

"Shut up nerd," said James. "Now, when we make this map, we gotta sign it, and…"

"You want us to sign our names to something we shouldn't even be doing in the first place?" asked Remus. "And I thought you'd thought this whole thing out."

"Not our actually names, obviously," said James. "We need a nickname, or a code, or something…"

"Why do we need all this?" asked Peter. "It just seems like unnecessary extra work."

"It'll look professional," said James. "Can you imagine some kids fifteen to twenty years from now finding the map and thinking 'wow, these guys were really cool?'"

"No, I can't imagine anyone thinking that about Peter," said Sirius.

"HEY!" objected Peter.

"Okay, everyone think about your nickname, and I'll figure out who explores and when," said James, getting up and leaving the group.

"What did we just sign up for?" asked Remus.

"The better question is how did he convince all of us?" asked Sirius. "I mean, I understand Peter, but me and you aren't pushovers."

"HEY!" yelled Peter again.


	19. Love Lost

Chapter 19: Love Lost

"Sirius, hey Sirius," called Lily, running up to him in busy hallway. It was rare that he wasn't with his friends, and Lily wanted to take full advantage of it. Ahead of her, Sirius turned around to see her running up to him.

"Oh, hey Lily," said Sirius. "How are you going?"

"Good, good," said Lily, flushing slightly. "So, uh…we have that Hogsmeade visit coming up in a few days…"

"Uh huh," said Sirius, playing it cool despite what was going through his mind. "I'm aware."

"And, um…" started Lily, fumbling her words a bit. "I was wondering…would you go…with me?"

"Um…" started Sirius, almost at a loss for words before he composed himself. "I mean, I normally go with James, Peter, and Remus, and you normally hang out with Severus there, so why…"

"Just for something different," said Lily quickly. "I mean, you were one of my first friends when I found out about the magical world, and I almost never get to spend time with you alone. You're always wi…"

"Yes," interrupted Sirius.

"What?" asked Lily, confused by Sirius's comment.

"I suppose heading to Hogsmeade one time without the guys can't be too bad," said Sirius. "I mean, I feel like I haven't gotten to know anyone else in my own year level, or even my own house. This could be a good chance to do that."

"Oh…great. Great," said Lily excitedly. "So, I'll see you Saturday?"

"See you Saturday," said Sirius, as Lily headed off towards her next class. It wasn't until she'd disappeared around a corner that the full weight of what just happened fell on Sirius: Lily had asked him out. The girl that James had been after for five years had asked HIM, not James.

'Exactly,' said some small part of his brain. 'He's been pursuing her for five years, and hasn't made any ground. It was obviously never going to work, so it's your turn. It's what you've been wanting anyway.'

'It isn't fair to James,' screamed a much larger part of his brain. 'He's never given up hope on wooing Lily, and you're just going to take that away from him? You can't do that to your best friend.'

'Hush,' said the smaller part of his brain. 'James lost, that's the end of it. Plus, dating a muggle-born will REALLY annoying mum and dad.'

'NO!' screamed the larger part of his brain. 'You're not going to date Lily just to make mum and dad mad. You're gonna go up to James and explained what happened, and apologise.'

'Apologise for what?' demanded the smaller part of his brain. 'Lily made her choice, and it wasn't James. He can get over it. Plus, it's just a date. It's not like we're marrying her or anything.'

'You will explain it, and you will apologise,' said the larger part of his brain. 'And you will not date Lily for such petty reasons.'

Sirius was so distracted by his thoughts that he walked into the wall next to the door on his way into Charms class.

Later that night, Sirius saw James sitting alone in the common room. It was James and Peter's turn to go exploring the castle, so Sirius assumed that was why he was waiting there. Sirius took a deep breath, knowing what he had to say. "Hey, uh, James," said Sirius. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure," said James, putting away sheets of parchment that looked like parts of the map. "Might want to be quick though, Peter's gonna be here soon."

"It's just…it's kinda awkward," said Sirius. "And I don't want you to get mad."

James looked confused, and narrowed his eyes a bit. "Why? What did you do?" he asked.

Sirius took a deep breath before he explained what happened. "It wasn't something I did, exactly," said Sirius. "But, uh…Lily…might have, sort of, asked me out." Sirius paused for a moment before adding quickly. "And I might have sort of said yes." Sirius held his breath for a long moment, waiting for James's response.

"Huh…" said James, after about half a minute of silence. "Okay. Good for you."

Now it was Sirius's turn to look confused. "That's…that's it?" asked Sirius. "The girl you've been in love with for five years asks me out instead of you, and that's all you've got to say?"

"Well, it's not like I was getting anywhere with her," said James, shrugging his shoulders. "So, it's not like I can complain if someone else gets to her before me."

"I just…I thought you'd have a bit of a problem with it," said Sirius, feeling a lot more relieved now. "You know, seeing as how you had dibs on her and all…"

"Nah, she's her own person," said James. "She's free to date whoever she wants, and if that's you, so be it."

"O…okay," said Sirius, about to turn and head up to the dormitory. "Thanks James."

"No problem buddy," said James as nonchalantly as possible, but Sirius still noticed it: James's hand shaking with what appeared to be rage, and a slight flush on his cheek.

'You gave him an out,' said the smaller part of his brain. 'Besides, it would be rude to cancel on Lily at this point.'

The larger part of his brain just sighed in frustration.

"This is nice, isn't it?" asked Lily, as she and Lily took their seats at the Three Broomsticks.

"Yeah, it's been fun," said Sirius. The two of them had been to Honeydukes and Zonko's, and this was to be the last stop on their trip to Hogsmeade before heading back. Despite stressing about what James would think, Sirius had enjoyed himself, and Lily had had a good time too.

"There's just something that I've been meaning to ask," said Lily. "And it's…kind of awkward."

"Hey, whatever it is, if you don't want me talking about it to anyone, I won't," said Sirius. "You can trust me, I promise."

"It's just…I don't want you to think less of me for what I'm about to say," said Lily, not making eye contact with Sirius.

"Whatever it is, I can take it," said Sirius sincerely.

Lily took a deep breath. "Okay," she said, looking up again. "So…I actually asked you out because…I wanted to talk about James."

Sirius froze. "Wh…what?" he asked. The inside of his mind was going wild. He was relieved that this wasn't actually a date, even if he was a bit disappointed by it too.

"I like him, okay?" Lily blurted out, clearly embarrassed. "I always have, even though sometimes he acts like a complete jerk, especially towards Severus. I just…I need someone to talk to about this. I knew Severus would be furious about this, Peter seems like he'd rat me out (Sirius flinched when she said 'rat', but thankfully Lily didn't notice), and I felt you were closer to James than Remus is."

"Yeah, I'd say that's true," said Sirius. "Though honestly, Remus is a lot smarter than me and would probably know what to say in this situation."

"Really? I didn't think he'd have had as much experience with girls as you did," said Lily.

"…yeah, that makes sense," said Sirius. "But why not tell James this?"

"It's just…" started Lily. "He's still so immature. If he wasn't such a jerk to Severus it would be fine."

"I get it," said Sirius. "Would you like me to talk to him for you?"

"Only if you want to," said Lily. "I don't want to seem like I'm asking too much."

"Nah, it's fine," said Sirius. "Since we're being honest, I think it's a good idea for me and the guys to back off of Severus. There are a few times when I'm been a bit scared of him, like he's about to go down a dark path. I don't want him to end up as a follower of You-Know-Who or something."

"Severus would never do something like that," objected Lily. "And why are you so scared to say Volde…"

"SHHH!" hushed Sirius, reaching across the table to cover Lily's mouth. "Don't say his name. He's done so much evil, caused so much pain, there are so many people who would rather not hear him spoken of. I know too many people like that myself."

"Sorry Sirius," said Lily. "I didn't mean…"

"It's okay," said Sirius, gently holding her hand. "I don't expect muggle-borns to completely understand about him. But trust me, it's taboo. Now, let's finish our Butterbeer and head back."

Severus was just on his way back to the castle when he passed the Three Broomsticks. And who should he see through the window but Lily and Sirius, Sirius holding Lily's hand. 'Don't let it bother you Severus,' he told himself, but as he continued on his way back, he could feel his anger seething inside him. Sirius was gonna pay…somehow.


	20. Deadly Prank

Chapter 20: Deadly Prank

Sirius was on his way back to the castle, not paying attention to anything since he was still trying to come to terms with what had just happened with Lily.

'What are you going to tell James?' he thought to himself. 'I shouldn't tell him anything, it's for Lily to talk to him about. Although, you could at least tell him you won't be dating Lily anymore. Just apologise for doing it in the first place and…' Suddenly Sirius felt himself get slammed into a wall. "Wha…" he gasped, struggling against some kind of restraint.

"Hello Sirius," said Severus, appearing from behind a bush with his wand drawn. "How do you like that wall there?"

"Okay Severus, you got me," said Sirius, trying to laugh it off. "Do you mind, you know, letting me go? We can call it even for…whatever I did to you last time I did something to you."

"You mean dating Lily?" snarled Severus, before realising he'd said that out loud.

"What's that got to do with…oh…oh my god…" said Sirius. "You like Lily too. Oh, that is too precious."

Severus responded by holding his wand against Sirius's throat. "You do know I hold all the power here right now?" demanded Severus.

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius. "I just want to make sure you don't get any enjoyment out of this."

Severus glared at him, before punching him hard in the jaw. Despite Severus's fairly scrawny stature, the blow hurt more than Sirius thought it would. He put it down to the fact that Severus had him against a wall, and that's where most of his force was coming from. "I've been hoping to use this for a little while," said Severus, pulling a vial out of his robe pocket with a clear looking liquid.

"Do you always carry a vial of potion with you wherever you go?" asked Sirius.

"You never know when to might have the opportunity to use it," said Severus. "Now, all I want to know is: what is it about you that Lily likes that she would pick you over me?"

"Oh, that's all you want to know?" asked Sirius. "She doesn't, actually. She just…"

"LIAR!" screamed Severus, causing Sirius to flinching, at least as much as he could in his position. "I saw you, in the Three Broomsticks just now. You were holding hands like you were…" Sirius noticed Severus seemed to blush at the thought of what him and Lily had been doing.

"Come on Severus, are you really going to be like this?" asked Sirius. "Lily just wanted to talk to me as a friend about…something." Sirius didn't want to talk about what it was. He didn't want to be the one to betray Lily's trust.

"Oh yeah? What was it?" asked Severus, glaring at him as he said it.

"I…don't want to say," said Sirius. "Lily trusted me with this secret, and I have no intention of betraying that."

Severus shook his head. "You see, I don't believe that," he said. "Lily and I have been friends since before we started at Hogwarts. I think that whatever she told you is something she would have talked to me about. So, tell me, since I already know what it's going to be about."

"She wouldn't have," said Sirius, suddenly very worried since he still couldn't move. "Trust me, she didn't. And don't ask me to tell you, because she had her reasons for not telling you. Please Severus, let me go. I'm not going to tell you."

"Oh, but I think you will," said Severus, waving the vial in front of Sirius's eyes. "You see this? Do you know what this is?"

"No, but I'm assuming it's nothing good," said Sirius, wondering what the potion was with a sick feeling in his stomach.

"Do you know what Veritaserum is?" asked Severus. "It's a very powerful truth serum. I just need a few drops, and you'll tell me anything I want to know. Possibly even things I don't want to know."

"Isn't…isn't that illegal?" asked Sirius.

"You seem to be under the impression that I care what you think," said Severus, taking the stopper off the top of the vial. "Now, open wide, I have something for you." Sirius tried to keep his mouth closed, but Severus forced his lips open just enough to let a few drops through. Sirius tried to spit them back out, but Severus covered his mouth and held his head back, forcing them down his throat. "Now, speak."

"I…wasn't on a date with Lily," said Sirius, speaking completely truthfully without revealing anything, though he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up.

"Okay, fine, humour me," said Severus. "If that wasn't what you were doing, what was it?"

"I…She needed to talk to someone about something…personal," said Sirius.

"I'm her best friend, and have been for years. Why wouldn't she talk to me?" demanded Severus.

"It's…about James," said Sirius relunctantly.

Severus froze at James's name, and his eyes got darker than normal. "What?" he asked, in some kind of tranquil fury. "What about him?"

"She…she…likes him…" confessed Sirius, furious with himself despite knowing there was nothing he could do about it. "She likes him, and needed to talk to someone about it."

"That…" started Severus, but now he seemed to be at a loss for words. "It can't be true. The potion mustn't be working."

"It is," said Sirius. "If it wasn't, don't you think I'd have said something horrible about you by now?"

Severus was clearly still furious, but didn't know what to do with this information. "I…" he stammered, trying to compose himself.

"Now you know why she didn't want to tell you," said Sirius. "She knew you wouldn't understand."

"No, I don't understand," snapped Severus, back in control. "Why? Why him? Why not me? I've been there all this time. She's seen what Potter's like. What the hell does she see in him that she doesn't see in me?"

"I don't know Severus," said Sirius. "Now if you could just let me down from here…"

"How about I don't yet?" asked Severus, still looking somewhat sinister. "I mean, what I have here is a pretty unique opportunity to drill you for information. I could ask you anything and you'd be forced to answer."

"No, Severus, please…" pleaded Sirius. "Do you really think Lily will be impressed by this? She trusts me, she knows that I suspect you're heading down a Death Eater path. If you do this, you can say goodbye to any chance of ever being with her."

Severus stood for a moment, clearly considering Sirius's words. Sirius then saw what looked like Severus cursing under his breath, and releasing the spell paralysing him against the wall. "Go," was all Severus said, furious, but knowing he couldn't do anything else to Sirius without hurting his chances with Lily.

Sirius began leaving, still kicking himself for being so easily ambushed by Severus, of all people. What was he thinking, letting a jerk like him catch him off-guard? He'd have to get him back at some point. But how? Sirius was already considering what to do when he stopped dead in his tracks. Why not give him a good fright? That ought to pay him back for what he'd just done.

"Hey Severus," said Sirius, turning around to see Severus still seething in rage. "Since I'm being honest with you, not necessarily by choice…"

"Hm?" asked Severus, not looking him.

"If you want to know a secret, go to the Whomping Willow next full moon, and hit the knot at the base," said Sirius. "There's a secret tunnel under it. Follow it. Trust me." Sirius left Severus once he'd said this, a huge smile on his face. That should get him off our back.

A few hours later, Sirius was still thinking about what he'd told Severus, and kept having a horrible nagging feeling about what he'd said. That was when he remembered: they hadn't had Remus be around people yet since they'd learned how to become animagi. Severus could be in serious trouble. 'It's okay, I just have to tell him before the next full mo…' Sirius looked out the window, and felt his heart suddenly sink. 'Oh crap…that's TONIGHT!' Without waiting another second, Sirius grabbed his stuff and looked for James.

* * *

James was just getting ready for bed, since it was Peter's turn to keep Remus company. The group had agreed they didn't all need to accompany Remus every time. It also gave them a break from working on the map.

James had just pulled back the covers when Sirius burst into the room. "I screwed up big time," he said, looking very panicked.

"What did you do, get your Charms and Transfiguration homework mixed up and hand them to the wrong teachers?" asked James jokingly. When Sirius's expression didn't change, James suddenly got serious. "Okay, how badly did you screw up?"

"I…kinda…mighta…told Severus about the tunnel under the Whomping Willow," said Sirius, looking more than a little sheepish about what he'd just said. "And how to get into it."

James stared at him in complete shock. "WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU TELL HIM THAT?!" yelled James. "Do you have ANY idea how…"

"I KNOW HOW STUPID THAT WAS!" yelled Sirius. "Why the hell do you think I'm confessing? There was a bunch of things happening, and I was angry, and…"

"Look, it doesn't matter," said James, grabbing his Invisibility Cloak. "We need to get there now, and hope he hasn't seen anything."

* * *

The two approached the knot for the Whomping Willow, keeping an eye out for any sign of Severus. "Haven't seen any footprints or anything," said Sirius. "Maybe he's not here ye…"

"Look," said James, pointing at one of the branches. "I don't think those were broken last time we were here. It looks like that happened recently."

"…uh oh," said Sirius, sliding down into the tunnel, followed by James. The two of them hurried along the path, hoping around each bend or over each rise they'd see Severus, getting more and more worried as they got closer and closer to the Shack.

Soon they reached the end of the tunnel, and there was still no sign of Severus anywhere. "Please tell me he wasn't stupid enough to actually go into the Shrieking Shack…" Almost as if to answer, there was a loud scream from above them.

"I think he was," said Sirius, suddenly terrified. "He's screwed, there's no way…" Before he could finish, James suddenly burst through the trapdoor into the Shack. "What are you doing? You're gonna get yourself killed."

James took one look around the scene. The living room was trashed, and backed into a corner was Severus. His wand lying in the middle of the room, and Remus had him backed into a corner. However, when he heard someone come into the room, Remus spun around and gave a low growl. Remus made a leap at him, and James pulled out his wand. "FLIPENDO!" he yelled, catching the wolf in mid-flight and sending him into the opposite wall. "Get out of there, come on." Severus didn't need to be told twice, grabbing his wand and practically diving into the hole, James right on his tail as Sirius closed it behind them.

"What…" wheezed Severus. "What the hell? Remus, he…he changed…he's a…"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," said James. "And now you do too. And you're not gonna say anything about it, are you?"

"Are you kidding me?" demanded Severus. "I was nearly KILLED by that thing, and you want me to NOT tell people?"

"You do realise Dumbledore approved this, right?" asked James. "I mean, maybe not us knowing about it. But he had to acquire the Whomping Willow, create the tunnel, seal off the Shrieking Shack. Do you really think someone like Dumbledore would allow someone like Remus in if he didn't think figure out a way to make it safe to do so?"

Severus glared at him, but seemed to concede the point. "Okay, say I do keep it secret," said Severus. "What's in it for me?"

"We won't hex you into next week is wha…" started Sirius, when James cut him off.

"Severus, we both know Remus is the last person who would do anything to you," said James. "Granted, he never tries to stop anything happening to you, but that's a different matter. Do you really want to ruin his life by revealing this to the school?"

Severus continued giving them a stern look, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine, whatever," he said. "I'm not doing this for you though, I'm doing this for Remus. But he'd better not do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, or else…" Severus spun around and left before he could finish his threat.

"Well, at least that's over with," said Sirius. "Let's head back to…"

"Sirius," said James. "We have to talk."

"You know, we can talk when we get back to…" started Sirius.

"No. Now," said James, in a voice that made it clear that there was to be no argument.

"It's about what just happened, isn't it?" asked Sirius, trying to keep the mood light.

"Of course it is," said James. "What the hell were you thinking? I hate Severus as much as the next guy, maybe more, but not so much that I want to kill him. And that's what could have happened tonight."

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius. "It's just…he kind of ambushed me this afternoon, and he was questioning me about Lily, and he used a truth serum on me, and…"

"Wait, he used a truth serum on you?" asked James. "So that's why you told him about all this is it?" Sirius was suddenly quiet. "Sirius, tell me that he made you tell him about this because of the truth serum."

"I…might have been trying to get back at him for what he did to me," said Sirius.

"With THIS?!" yelled James. "Come on Sirius, you could have told us he'd ambushed you. We'd have helped you out when we got him back."

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius. "It's just…I was angry. I felt like I had to get back at him then and there. There was nothing else to it."

"And that makes it okay?" demanded James.

"Of course not," said Sirius. "Look, I'm sorry. I screwed up. I screwed up big time, and not even at my own expense, and I'll confess everything to Remus tomorrow. Just…forgive me, please."

James continued to give him a hard stare. "I'll think about it," said James, turning to follow where Severus had just gone.

"Okay, for how long?" asked Sirius, but James didn't turn back. "James? JAMES?" Sirius sat down in the darkness of the cave, holding his head in his hands. "Good going Sirius, you really did it this time," he said, not making any effort to leave this spot.


	21. Kicked Out

Chapter 21: Kicked Out

It was a stormy night in London as Sirius made his way through the streets, dragging behind him the trunk with all the things he could pack up before his father threw him out the door. Sirius was furious still, but now it was starting to sink in exactly what this would mean for him. He was homeless now, he had no money to his name, and if he didn't find some kind of shelter soon, he was probably going to catch a cold.

Sirius tried to think of where he could go. Peter's? No, probably shouldn't. From what little he'd heard of Peter's homelife, his father was a drunk and was apparently less than happy about his son actually managing to get friends. Remus? No, Remus's parents were fiercely protective of their son's 'secret', even though Sirius knew it already. They would be pissed if they found out anyone at Hogwarts knew about it. Lily? Also not a good idea. While her parents were every happy about having a witch in the family, her sister was…less than impressed, to put it lightly. Severus? Not even worth considering.

Sirius sighed, knowing there was really only one person he could go to in this situation. Sirius just hoped he wasn't still mad about the incident at the end of the school year that nearly got Severus killed. They'd hardly spoken since that day, mostly just enough to keep up appearances and to work on the map. Sirius reached into his pocket, hoping to find some spare change, but knew very well there was none there. Guess the Knight Bus is out of the question. Sirius sighed again, and tried to remember the way to the Potter house.

* * *

James was just finishing up some of his holiday homework when he heard the knock on the door. He ignored it, since his parents often had guests over, though not normally this late at night, especially not in weather like this. James heard the door opening, and suddenly his mother yelled out. "Oh, you poor dear. What's happened to you?" This was followed by the sound of something being dragged inside and the door closing, and his father yelling out to him. "James, come down. Your friend Sirius is here."

Sirius? James was very surprised by this. He hadn't really spoken much to him since their fight under the Shrieking Shack a month and a half ago. If he was here, at this hour, and in this weather, something must be wrong.

James went down the stairs, and saw his mother furiously drying Sirius's hair with a towel. Once she removed it, he could clearly see Sirius's face, swollen on the left side as though he was in a fight, with some purple bruises scattered around to confirm as much. A small trail of red was coming out of Sirius's crooked looking nose, and James could see the towel his mother had been using was stained the same colour.

James went into the kitchen to the others. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

"My father, that's what happened," said Sirius, somewhat upbeat despite what he looked like. "Apparently he took objection to me being friends with a muggleborn. Though he may not have used that word to describe her."

"You poor, poor dear," said Euphemia, coming back up to him with her wand. "Now, hold still Sirius, this will probably hurt a lot." She cleared her throat and pointed her wand at his nose. "Brackium Emendo." There was a loud snap, and suddenly Sirius's crooked nose was back in place.

"Where'd you learn that?" asked Sirius.

"When you try for a child for as long as me and Fleamont and finally get one, you make sure you learn every helpful healing spell you can find an incantation for, just in case you need it," said Euphemia.

"Did not need to hear that part about you and dad…" started James, but Euphemia was busy trying to make some tea.

"James, why don't you get the spare bed set up?" asked Fleamont. "I'm guessing Sirius will probably want some sleep after tonight's ordeal."

"Thank you," said Sirius, as James went back up to his room and pulled out a small camp bed they used whenever one of James's friends were over. James was just throwing some sheets over the bed when Sirius came in.

"Thank you so much for this, Mr. and Mrs. Potter," said Sirius.

"Please Sirius, it's fine," said Fleamont. "And call us Fleamont and Euphemia. You're no stranger here."

"Thank you," said Sirius, with a yawn. "I better get some sleep."

"Alright, see you in the morning," said Euphemia, closing the door behind Sirius.

Sirius walked in and sat down on the camp bed. "So," said Sirius, for once not in his standard joking light-hearted attitude. "Should we talk?"

"I suppose," said James. "I mean, it sounds like you're gonna be living here a while."

"Look, James," said Sirius. "There is a ton of stuff that's my fault, and I'm never gonna stop being sorry for it. I told Remus everything the second he came down from the Shack, and Snape's been nice enough to not say anything, but…"

"That's not everything," said James. "There's also…you know…"

"Is this about Lily?" asked Sirius. There was an extended silence that Sirius took to mean yes. "James, I can promise you, nothing is happening between me and Lily. That was a one-time thing, and it's not happening again. Lily was very clear about that."

"How do I know though?" asked James. "How do I know she won't ask you out again?"

"Because…" started Sirius, and stopped. He couldn't decide whether to tell James the good news about Lily or not. On the one hand, he'd probably forgive everything if he told him this. On the other hand, it wasn't his secret to tell. He'd already (unwillingly) told one person about her feelings towards James. Surely this was something for Lily to talk to him about?

"Because why?" asked James, looking at him very expectantly.

"Because…" started Sirius, desperately trying to come up with something, before sighing. "Screw it, might as well go with the truth. Lily likes you."

James stared at him for a moment, then let out a short laugh. "Yeah, right," said James, clearly amused by what Sirius had said, before noticing that Sirius wasn't laughing. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Yes," said Sirius. "Also, I'm telling the truth about Lily."

James stared at him for a moment, then put his head in his hands and groaned loudly. "Even after everything that happened to you, you couldn't resist making that pun?" he asked.

"Hey, this is me we're talking about," said Sirius. "But seriously James, Lily is into you. She just…she isn't a fan of us being mean to Severus."

"Well, I mean, he does the same to us…" stated James.

"James, I'm concerned about Severus," said Sirius. "I've seen some of the people he associates with. Their families are You-Know-Who's followers. I don't think Severus is yet, but we have to stop attacking him before he joins them out of spite."

James thought about this for a moment. "I guess you would know about that sort of thing more than I would," he admitted. "Okay, I'll tone down the Snape torture. As long as he does the same. But this is more for Lily than for Snape."

"Good to see your intentions are so noble," muttered Sirius. "Well, good night James."

"Good night Sirius," said James, turning off the light.


	22. The Marauder's Map

Chapter 22: The Marauder's Map

It was fairly early in the morning when Remus and Sirius made their way back into the dormitory. The two of them were surprised when they saw James hunched over a stack of papers. He looked up when he heard them. "Oh, hey guys," he said. "Shouldn't you be heading down to the Whomping Willow before Remus transforms?"

"We just got back," said Remus. "Did you not realise it was seven in the morning?"

James looked over to a grandfather clock in the corner of the room. "Huh, so it is," said James. "Apparently I've been up all night."

"What the hell were you doing?" asked Sirius. "Didn't we plan all this so we wouldn't all be up all night every night?"

"But guys," said James. "It's done."

"What's done?" asked Remus, looking over James's shoulder. "Wait, is this…"

"The map," said James proudly. "I think it's done. Now, for the last step…"

"Wait, we need to grab Peter," said Sirius, dashing up the stairs to grab him out of bed. It wasn't long before Sirius returned with a groggy looking Peter behind him.

"This had better be good," said Peter, rubbing his tired eyes.

"It will be," said James, pulling out his wand. "We've got the map done. Now, in theory we can make the map into a single piece of parchment using the conjoining spell."

"James, we only got taught that yesterday," said Remus. "And none of us really mastered it then. And you've just gone all night without sleeping. I don't think…"

"Oh, what's the worst that could happen?" asked James, aiming his wand before clearing his throat. "Coniungo." The stack of papers on the table suddenly started flying into each other, before leaving a single, larger sheet of parchment on the table.

"Did…did it work?" asked Peter.

"I hope so," said Remus. "Otherwise all that hard work has been for nothing."

"Let's have a look, shall we?" said Sirius, picking up the paper and unfolding it. "Holy crap…"

"What? What is it?" asked James, as Sirius slammed the map back down on the table. "Oh my God…"

"It…it worked…" said Remus.

"I can't believe something James did actually worked," said Peter, earning him a punch from James.

"Look, there's Filch in his office," said Sirius, pointing out a dot on the ground floor labelled 'Argus Filch', with another dot labelled 'Mrs. Lewis' sitting nearby.

"And there's Dumbledore pacing around his office," said Remus, pointing out another dot a few floors up from Filch.

"And there's McGonagall, heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast," said Peter, pointing to another dot.

"And there's us," said James, pointing to Gryffindor Tower. "And there's Lil…" James stopped as he realised Lily Evans's dot was coming down the stairs of the girl's dormitory.

"Hey guys, what are you doing up so early?" asked Lily, as Sirius hid the map behind him.

"Nothing," said all the boys in unison, making them seem all the more suspicious.

"Right…" said Lily, not believing them at all. "Well, I'm gonna go get breakfast. See you." She started making her way towards the entrance. "Oh, and Peter? You may want to get dressed properly." Lily disappeared down the passageway towards the entrance covered by the Fat Lady.

"That was close," said Sirius, putting the map back on the table. "We probably need to figure out a way to turn this thing off before someone sees what it is."

"Way ahead of you," said James, wand in hand. "Mischief managed." All of a sudden, the map began folding in on itself, and became blank.

"Whoa," said Peter, staring in disbelief. "Then how do we get it back?"

"Simple," said James. "Just say the words 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'." The map then immediately started to reveal itself again, but this time with some more text on the top.

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP," read Remus. "Really James? You gave us all nicknames?"

"Well…" said James. "I mean, we couldn't use our own names. And now, if it falls into the wrong hands, no-one can know it's us, right?"

"I guess…" said Sirius, as James closed the map again.

"Guys, come on, we did it," said James. "The Marauders Map is complete." Suddenly, James let out a huge yawn. "Just give me a minute." And with that, James collapsed on the couch, asleep.

Remus sighed with annoyance. "And this is why we shouldn't be up all night," he said, preparing to wake him up.


	23. New Information

Chapter 23: New Information

It was two in the morning, and Peter knew he shouldn't be sneaking around the library like this. But he had to be sure that there was no information anywhere in the school about the Cursed Vaults. He only had another year and a half left at Hogwarts, and he hadn't found anything for Patricia concerning the Vaults.

Peter made his way through the Restricted Section, since it was the only place he hadn't fully explored yet. "Nope…nope…nope…" muttered Peter, as he read the title of each book. "There's nothing in here about…" Suddenly, Peter saw something. Hidden behind several of the other books, and covered in dust, another book. It must have been pushed behind the books on the shelf, and hidden by time.

"What's this one?" he asked, pulling it out. "'Hidden Treasures of the Magical World'? Surely, if there's any information about them, it'll be here."

Peter spent the next half an hour poring over the book, looking for any information to do with the Cursed Vaults. He saw passages about a hidden stash of a million galleons in the Australian Outback, a magical tree in the deepest parts of the Amazon whose wood was rumoured to make broomsticks superfast, and the location of the world's last Yeti population, the fur of which was rumoured to be good luck.

Peter was just closing the book when he noticed the word 'vault' on the page he was on. Peter reopened the book, and had to suppress a gasp. "The Cursed Vaults of Hogwarts," he read. "Holy crap, I've found it."

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of information on the page, but Peter gathered that there were five of them, and that they were rumoured to be in Hogwarts or the surrounding areas. There weren't many stories to confirm their existence, and even the ghosts of the castle weren't sure if the rumours of these Vaults were true. But there were suggestions at least two of them were in the castle itself.

Peter scoffed, since he was sure he and the others had already explored every square inch of the castle. But then something occurred to him: on the fifth floor, near the end of a corridor, there was always a cold spot, no matter what time of day or year it was. The boys had explored the area as much as possible, but nothing showed up.

There was also the Forbidden Forest, a place they hadn't fully explored due to its size, and the immense danger within it. If someone had wanted to hide a vault anywhere near Hogwarts, surely they'd go somewhere where no-one could travel safely. Even Hagrid wasn't fully safe in that place.

Peter pulled out a piece of parchment and placed it next to the book, before pulling out his wand. "Duplici Exemplari," whispered Peter, aiming his wand halfway between the book and the parchment. The text from the book started to appear on the parchment next to it, as though the parchment was just the same page from a newer copy of the same book.

Peter then pulled out another piece of parchment, and hastily began writing out everything he knew, and everything he suspected, and addressed it to Patricia. She'd written to him over the summer, telling him about her new job as a Curse Breaker for Gringotts. Apparently she was working in an old Aztec temple right now, so he didn't expect a reply for a while, but he still grabbed James's Invisibility Cloak and began sneaking towards the Owlery.

Peter looked around at all the birds, trying to pick out the one most likely to make such a long trip, before settling on a great horned owl. It was a native to the Americas anyway, so it would hopefully raise the least suspicion.

Peter tied his letter to the bird, and sent it off on its mission. As Peter turned around to leave though, he saw an oh so familiar (and not so welcome) cat sitting outside the door. "Mrs. Lewis?" he whispered, suddenly worried. "Shoo, get out of here." Mrs. Lewis stared at him a moment longer, before turning and leaving. Peter sighed in relief as he put the Invisibility Cloak back on, only to hear a rather loud meow from outside.

"Yes, Mrs. Lewis, I saw it," came Filch's voice. "Whoever's sending letters at this time is going to be in big trouble." Peter's heart sank as Filch appeared in the doorway, a big smirk on his face. However, with Peter hidden under the cloak, Filch's smirk quickly turned into a frown. "Huh, they're quick to get away from me like this," he said, turning around to leave.

Peter held his breath until he was gone, and then slowly slunk his way out of the Owlery and back towards the castle. Unfortunately, Filch was heading the exact same way, so he couldn't go back in the same way he'd come, so Peter snuck in through a side door.

When Peter finally got back to the boy's dorm, it was nearly four thirty in the morning. "Well, today's gonna be difficult to stay up during classes," said Peter, slipping into bed as quietly as possible, falling asleep soon after.

It wasn't until a month later that Peter got a reply to his letter. "Hey Peter, who's writing to you?" asked James, trying to grab the letter.

"It's…uhh…private," said Peter, holding it close to his chest.

"Come, let us see," said Sirius, also making a grab for it as Peter moved away.

"Guys, come on," said Remus. "If he says it's private, it's private. For all we know, his parents are getting divorced. Peter will tell us in his own time, right Peter?"

"Uhh…yeah," said Peter, relieved that Remus was in his side. At least it made James and Sirius back off a bit.

The letter itself was not a long one. All it said was 'That's great Peter, I'll be in touch when I can. – P. R.'


	24. The M Word

Chapter 24: The M Word

"This is gonna be good," whispered James, watching Severus from his hiding spot behind some bushes.

"As always, I'm going to voice my concern about doing this that you will promptly ignore," said Remus.

"Yeah, don't you remember what I told you over the summer?" asked Sirius. "If we keep harassing Snape like this, he may decide to listen to his friends who follow You-Know-Who."

"Surely you don't think he's that petty," said James.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was," said Remus. "People have joined him for less, I'd say petty revenge is right up there with good reasons to join up with Dark Wizards."

"Besides, you don't actually think Lily would still like you if you keep messing with Severus, do you?" asked Sirius.

"Wait, what? Lily doesn't like James in the first place," said Peter.

"Did neither of you tell him?" asked Remus.

"No, why?" asked Sirius, before realising something. "Wait, when did we tell you?"

"You didn't, until now," said Remus smugly.

Sirius stared at him in confusion. "You sly bastard," said Sirius once he realised what just happened.

"Wait, didn't tell me what?" asked Peter.

"Nobody tell him," said James. "It's funnier this way. And Sirius, you have a point. I'll leave him alone…for now."

"Why?" asked someone nearby to them, causing them all to jump. Severus stood before them, smirking. "Scared, Potter?"

"You wish," said James, reaching for his wand. Unfortunately, Severus already had his wand in his hand.

"Wingardium Leviosa," said Severus, hitting James square in the chest. James felt himself being lifted off the ground. "I really can't be bothered doing much right now, so I'll just hook you on a tree branch and be on my way."

"Big mistake," said James, grabbing out his own wand. "Expelliarmus." Severus's wand flew out of his hand, which James caught. Unfortunately, the levitation spell broke at that moment too, causing James to fall. James scrambled to his feet and pointed his wand at Severus. "You know, I was going to leave you alone. But now… Wingardium Leviosa." Severus could do nothing as he was raised off the ground towards the nearest tree branches.

"James, what are you doing?" cried someone behind him. James spun around and saw Lily storming towards them. "Why do you keep doing this to him?"

"Hey, come on, he started it," said James, as Lily pulled out her own wand.

"Flipendo," said Lily, pointing her wand at James. There was a blue flash, and suddenly James flew back about ten feet. Severus fell to the ground as the spell was broken. "Are you okay Severus?" asked Lily, running up to him.

"Get off me," snapped Severus, far more angrily than he normally would talk to Lily. "I don't need help from a filthy little Mudblood like you."

There was a sharp inhale of breath from Remus, while Sirius just stared at him in shock and concern. Peter looked uncomfortable, and Lily just looked confused. Only James took action.

"Apologise," said James, getting to his feet, and pointing his wand at Severus. "Apologise right now, you absolute a…"

"And why should I?" sneered Severus. "What are you going to do about…"

"Severus," interrupted Lily, causing Severus to snap around to look at Lily. "What did you call me?"

For the first time, Severus seemed to realise what he said. "Lily, I…" he stammered, trying to figure out what to say. "I…I didn't mean…"

"Maybe you didn't mean it," said Sirius. "But the fact that you said that, even when you were angry, means that you've at least thought it at some point."

"Oh, shut up, you," snapped Severus. "What would you know about…"

"He's got a point," said Lily, clearly upset. "You know what that word means. I know about your friends from Slytherin, and how they feel about witches and wizards from non-magical families. I thought you'd be different, but clearly that's not the case." At this point Lily was trying her hardest not to cry. "I…I have to go…" Lily charged past the group, not wanting to look at any of them.

"Lily, wait," cried Severus, getting back up and trying to catch up to her.

"Just stop, Severus," said Remus. "I think you've done enough damage."

Severus just glared at him. "Screw you," he said, flipping them off as he left.

"I can't believe what just happened," said James. "I honestly never saw those two breaking off like this."

"On the plus side, Lily's yours for the taking now, right?" asked Peter.

"PETER! Not the time," snapped James.

"Yeah, too soon," said Sirius.

"Just trying to be helpful," said Peter.

"Then don't be," said Remus. "Come on guys, let's go."


	25. Moving Out

Chapter 25: Moving Out

"Finally, we're done for another year," said James, lugging his stuff towards the train station. "One more year to go."

"Yeah, but that one's going to be a tough one," said Remus. "Remember how much work it was to get through our O. W. L.'s?"

"Oh God, don't remind me," said Peter. "But maybe now, because we're older and wiser it won't be so bad?"

"Well, we're older at least," said Sirius. "I wouldn't say we're wis…" Before Sirius could finish his sentence, a large barn owl swooped down and dropped a letter into his hand. "What the…"

"You got a letter," said James. "Must be pretty important if it didn't come by the morning post and came straight to you. Who's it from?"

"Gringotts, apparently," said Sirius, reading the sender's name on the back. "Feels like there's a key or something in it, but I don't have an account of my own with them. In fact, most of what I own is right here."

"Well, it definitely says your name," said Remus, looking at the name on the envelope. "Might as well see what it says once we're on the train." The four of them boarded the train and grabbed the first empty compartment they could find. Sirius immediately tore open the letter and pulled out the single sheet of parchment inside.

"'Dear Mr. Black'," read Sirius. "'Gringotts wishes to send its condolences on the recent passing of your uncle Alphard Black'…wait, Uncle Alphie's dead?"

"Your parents didn't tell you anything?" asked Peter.

"No, we're still not on speaking terms," said Sirius. "Aww, man. Uncle Alphie was the only decent member of my entire family. I can't believe he's gone."

"Man, I'm sorry," said James, before realising something. "Hey, what else does the letter say?"

"James, Sirius was just told his uncle died," snapped Remus. "Not even by his family, no less, by a bank…" Suddenly Remus seemed to realise too. "Sirius, what else does the letter say?"

Something seemed to dawn on Sirius too at that moment. "'In accordance with your uncle's wishes, we wish to inform you that you have inherited your uncle's fortune of ninety-four thousand and sixty galleons, fifteen sickles, and eleven knuts…'"

"Ninety-four THOUSAND?!" yelled Peter. "Holy crap, you're rich?"

"I am now," said Sirius. "I mean, that's…wow, Uncle Alphie, you got yourself disowned by the family for me?"

"He sounds like he was a great man," said Remus, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "If there's anything any of us can do for you?"

"Thanks," said Sirius. "I don't think there's much we can really do for now. The letter just says to get up to Gringotts to fill out some paperwork and the money will be mine."

* * *

A couple of days later, Fleamont and Sirius had just come through the back door of the Leaky Cauldron and went through the wall leading to Diagon Alley. "This shouldn't take too long," said Fleamont. "Goblins may be nasty at times, but they at least try to make deceased estates easy on their loved ones."

"Good to know," said Sirius. "Say, I was thinking, since I'm an adult now, and I have a small fortune to my name, maybe I should start looking for a place of my own."

"Oh?" questioned Fleamont. "If you're sure. You're more than welcome with me and Euphemia, and I'm positive James doesn't mind."

"It's not that I don't appreciate everything you've done for me," Sirius added quickly. "It's just that, you know, I kinda just thrust myself on you guys. I know it was at a time when I needed help, but I just feel like it was a bit unfair to…"

"Nonsense," interrupted Fleamont. "We were happy to have you, and it's not in either of our natures to turn away someone who needs help. But I get it, you want to move on and get a place of your own. You're an adult, and you need to…" Fleamont suddenly stopped and looked at a figure blocking their path. "Sirius, why does this woman seem to know you?"

"Because she does," said Sirius, putting his hand on his wand when he saw Walburga Black staring back at him. "What do you want?"

"I want what's mine," said Walburga, not moving an inch. "Give it to me."

"I have no idea what you're…" started Sirius.

"DON'T LIE TO ME YOUNG MAN!" screeched Walburga, loudly enough that people turned to watch the confrontation. "Alphard's fortune should go to me, his sister, not some brat who abandoned his family's morals."

"Morals?!" spat Sirius. "You call muggle hating moral? You call kicking your sixteen-year-old son out on the street moral? You call grooming Regulus to your way of thinking moral?" Sirius kept a withering glare on Walburga, despite knowing his mother would not back down about this. "I'm clearly the only member of this family with morals, and that's why Uncle Alphie left me the money and not you."

"Your uncle was a traitor and a fool," snapped Walburga. "I was even planning on restoring his place on the family tree when he died because of the fortune I'd inherit. But now I have to take it back by force. Now, be a good boy and hand it over to me."

"No," said Sirius immediately and defiantly.

"You will NOT say that word to me, I am your mother," spat Walburga. "And as your mother…"

"You stopped being my mother the moment I was out the door for the last time," said Sirius, hand drawing out his wand since he sensed his mother was near her breaking point. "Also, I'm an adult now. Nothing you say has any meaning to me anymore. Now, I'm going to go into Gringotts, signing the papers to claim Uncle Alphie's fortune, and you're going to leave."

"Fat chance," said Walburga, pulling out his own wand. "I'm going to hex you back to the Dark Ages, young man."

"Madam, I suggest you do what Sirius suggests," said Fleamont, holding his own wand. "He has said he won't be giving you the money, and I'm inclined to agree with him."

"And who the hell are you?" demanded Walburga.

"A better parent to me in one year than you were in sixteen," said Sirius. Fleamont seemed to tear up a little at the compliment, while Walburga just got more pissed off.

"How dare you?!" said Walburga through gritted teeth. "CRUCI…"

"STUPIFY!" yelled Sirius and Fleamont at the same, sending Walburga flying down the street and crashing to the ground next to the steps of Gringotts.

"Well, that was fun," said Sirius, putting his wand away. "We need to do that again sometime."

"Can't say I like the idea of fighting each and every member of your family," said Fleamont, heading towards the bank. "But I agree, it was enjoyable."

Sirius stepped over Walburga's body, still stunned in place. "Goodbye, mother," he said. "I'd say it's been a pleasure, but you know…it hasn't."

"Now, now, no need to gloat," said Fleamont. "Come on, we need to get these papers signed."


	26. Meet the Evans'

Chapter 26: Meet the Evans'

Lily had been waiting for the right moment to talk to James, and with only about two days before the Christmas holidays, she had decided to just go for it. Ahead of her, she saw him sitting with his friends. 'Of course he is,' she thought, not expecting anything different. Well, no time like the present. Lily walked up to them, making her presence known before she got there. "Hey James, can I talk to you?"

"Hey Head Girl, yeah we can talk," said James, making no indication to leave, or to send the others away.

"I meant in private," said Lily, starting to feel herself get a little flustered.

"It's okay, whatever Head Boy/Girl things you need to discuss you can say in front of us," said Peter. "James tells us that stuff anyway."

Remus, on the other hand, had picked up on what was going on. "No, I think this meeting is supposed to be private," he said, nudging Sirius gently.

"Oh yeah, we better give you two a chance to talk alone," said Sirius, grabbing his stuff to leave.

"Wait, you know what they're going to talk about?" asked Peter. "Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"Come on, Peter," said Sirius, dragging Peter away by his ear.

"OwowowowOW," said Peter, as he was pulled to a far corner of the Great Hall.

"Okay, they're gone," said James. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, uh…" started Lily, hoping she could get the words out as quickly as possible. "So, uh, my sister's getting married, and uh…I was wondering if you would…you know…like to be my…uh…guest, for when they…umm…get married?"

James stared at her in surprise for a moment. "Wh…what?" he asked, sure he'd heard her wrong.

"I…want you…to go to my sister's wedding with me," said Lily, hardly able to look him in the eyes at this point, concerned he might say no after so many years of ignoring him.

James was in stunned silence, his mind racing at a million miles per hour. 'She asked you out. SHE asked YOU out.' 'This is a trick, there's some ulterior motive behind it.' 'Did Severus put her up to it?' 'Surely not even he's that much of a prick.' 'Hey, did you just hear your name?' 'How long have we been quiet now?'

"James? James? Are you okay?" asked Lily, getting worried at the fact that he hadn't said a word for the last minute and a half.

"Wha…huh…did…did you just ask me out?" asked James.

"I…guess I did," said Lily. "You also didn't answer my question."

"Oh, right," said James. "Yes, yes of course I'll do that. I forgot what you said we'd be doing, but yes."

"A wedding," said Lily.

"Already? Shouldn't we date a bit first?" asked James.

Lily giggled a little before responding. "No, my sister's wedding," said Lily.

"Oh, right," said James. "I guess it wouldn't be too bad to go to a wedding with a bridesmaid."

"Umm…" said Lily, looking a bit awkward. "I'm…not actually a bridesmaid."

"What? Really?" asked James, looking surprised. "At your own sister's wedding?"

"Yeah," said Lily, clearly upset. "You see, my sister has this…thing, where she hates that I have magic, and…I don't know, I think she thinks that mum and dad like me more than her. They don't, I know they don't, but Petunia is sure that because of my magic, I get some kind of special treatment."

"Huh," said James, unsure how to respond to that. "How about her husband-to-be? What does this guy seem to think about magic?"

"I…I think he's freaked out by it too," said Lily. "I'm not entirely sure though, I haven't really spoken to this Vernon guy, Petunia just said she's told him about it. And if she's agreed to marry him, he must be against it too. There's no way she'd marry someone who wasn't what she considers 'normal'."

"That's…kinda messed up," said James. "I mean, magic's pretty normal. Maybe I can make them see…"

"No. Whatever you're planning, don't," said Lily in a hurry. "Please James, what I'm hoping is that you can show them that just because someone's magical, doesn't mean they're weird. I want them to accept magic if at all possible."

"Okay…" said James. "I know a bit about muggles, I suppose I can try to fit in. Though I have grown up with magic as the norm, so…this could be interesting."

"Great," said Lily. "So, we're having a dinner together before the event on the December 28th. Do you think you can make it to that, before the event itself in June? I'm sure my parents would love to meet you."

"Yes ma'am," said James, getting very enthusiastic about the idea.

"Great, I'll get the restaurant and venue addresses as soon as possible," said Lily. "See you soon James." Lily smiled widely, before walking off towards the dormitory.

James stayed where he was, still a bit shocked and what just happened, as his friends came back to him. "So, James, it looks like you just asked her out," said Sirius, nudging his friend's arm suggestively.

"Actually, she asked me out," said James. "Did not see that coming."

"Told you that's what would happen," said Remus. "Pay up."

"Damn it," said Sirius, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two galleons.

"Wait, what's this about?" asked James.

"Yeah, a while back me and Sirius had a bet about whether you would ask Lily out or vice versa," said Remus, taking Sirius's money. "Looks like I won."

"You guys suck," said James, as the group started heading back to the dormitory to get packed up for the winter holidays.

"Thanks for this mum," said James. "But you really didn't have to drive here. We could have just, you know, apparated or something."

"Nonsense," said Euphemia. "I wanted to make a good impression on the muggles, show that we're not so different. Especially after what you told us this guy Lily's sister is marrying."

"I guess," said James. "Hopefully this goes okay."

"You'll be fine James," said Euphemia. "Just remember, you only get to make one first impression, so try and make it a good one. If he doesn't respect you even then…well, there's just no helping some muggles."

"Thanks mum," said James, as they pulled into the carpark of the restaurant. "There they are. Okay, here goes." James got out of the car and headed towards the group.

"Hi James," said Lily, coming over and giving him a hug. "I'm so glad you could make it. Come on, meet my family."

"Okay," said James, hardly being given a choice in the matter as Lily dragged him over to a group of people.

"These are my parents, Michael and Mary Evans," said Lily, indicating two people in their early-to-mid forties.

"Hello James, it's nice to meet you," said Mary.

"Lily's told us a lot about you," said Michael, shaking James's hand firmly.

"Hi, nice to meet you both too," said James, shaking Michael's hand back.

Lily smiled at seeing James seeming to get along with her parents, before steering James towards the other couple with them. "And this over here is my sister Petunia, and her fiancé Vernon Dursley."

James turned to see a stick-thin woman and an overweight man, the former seeming to glare at him, the latter looking at him with cautious concern. "Hi, nice to meet you both," said James, holding out his hand for Vernon.

"James, was it?" asked Vernon, grasping James's hand with what seemed to be an attempt to break every bone in his hand. "Lily and Petunia have told me about you."

"All good things, I assume," said James, hoping to lighten the mood.

Vernon paused for a moment. "Well, things, to be sure," said Vernon. "Not sure how much I believe, or if I can say I like the sound of them, but certainly things."

"Of course they're not good things," said Petunia, butting in. "Like I told you, he's like…her." Petunia gave a pointed glare at Lily at this.

Mary, seeing Petunia's response, immediately stepped between the two. "Hey, why don't we go inside?" she said, trying defuse the situation.

"I suppose," said Petunia, turning to enter the restaurant. Vernon just shrugged his shoulder, unsure of what to say, and followed his wife-to-be.

"Was it something I said?" asked James.

"Oh, don't stress about it, James," said Michael. "Petunia's always been a bit peeved that Lily has magic and she doesn't. She doesn't understand it's completely natural."

"If you say so," said James. "What about Vernon?"

"Oh, he's a nice enough man," said Michael. "Unfortunately, I think Petunia's bringing him around to her way of thinking about magic. I'm not saying she isn't entitled to her opinions, but I just wish she'd at least try and be more accepting of Lily's, and I guess yours too, world."

"Don't concern yourself if they're a bit brash," said Lily. "Just be yourself and you should be fine."

"Seems like bad advice, but okay," said James, walking with the others into the restaurant.

James tried to be as nice and charming as possible, but Petunia seemed to be determined to hate him no matter what. Lily's parents seemed to be endlessly entertained by his stories, and enthusiastically asking questions and for more details about the tale, sometimes trying to guess the ending. However, Petunia would keep silent, occasionally offering up a quiet 'hmpf'. It even got to the point where any time Vernon seemed interested in whatever James was saying, Petunia seemed determined to remind him whose side he was supposed to be on. James decided he'd try and take a different tactic.

"So, uh Vernon, what do you do?" asked James, thinking that if he showed a bit of interest in muggle life Petunia might lighten up a bit.

"Me?" asked Vernon. "Well, I'm an executive at Grunnings. I suppose you would have heard of it, largest drill manufacturer in England."

"Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, I know them," said James, only vaguely aware that a drill was some kind of tool muggles used, and had no idea what they actually did.

"Excellent, even in your own little world we're well known," said Vernon proudly, smirking a little. "Maybe I can tap into a new market."

"Don't bother Vernon," said Petunia. "They decided they want to be a part of their own little world because they think they're better than us."

"Now Petunia, there's no need for that," said Mary. "I'm sure magical folk don't believe they're any better than muggles."

"Of course they do," snapped Petunia. "They've got their special powers, and don't feel like sharing with the rest of the world…"

"Come on Petunia, you know the history behind that," said Michael. "The whole Salem witch trial thing made them retreat. I'm sure if they decided to go public now…"

"Then why don't they?" said Petunia. "If we're supposed to be so accepting of people these days, why don't they make themselves known? It's because they know they're freaks, that's why they insist on hiding. They can't function in a normal society."

"Now Petunia, that's not necessarily true," said Vernon gently. "After all, we saw James's mother drop him off in a car. Granted, it was an old Angelia, nothing compared to the Cortina I've got, but still reasonably respectable."

"Yeah, if it was up to me, I'd be on my new Nimbus 1500," said James.

This seemed to get Vernon's attention. "Oh? So you have some kind of sportscar somewhere?" he asked. "Can't say I know the model, though."

"It's not a car, it's a broom," said James, thinking he might have a way to at least win over Vernon.

Unfortunately, Vernon started giving him a funny look. "A…broom?" he asked. "Like…like the thing you sweep with?"

"…I mean, yeah, you could," said James, sensing he was losing the man. "But, uh, this one flies. Really fast too."

Vernon's expression shifted into a confused, disappointed look. "See what I mean," Petunia whispered in his ear, loud enough for the rest of the table to hear.

"Now Petunia, no need to be like…" started Michael.

"No," snapped Petunia, slamming her hands on the table. "I'm sick of this. I'm sick of being treated like I'm second best just because my little sister has magic."

"Petunia, you know that's not true," said Mary. "We have always done our best to love you both equally…"

"But she gets the special treatment because she's the little witch," said Petunia. "You have to pick her up from her school, you have to hide her secret, you have to help make sure she's okay, while I'm getting nothing."

"That's enough Petunia," said Michael firmly. "We've explained this to you time and again. Lily's Headmaster even explained what would happen if we didn't send Lily to his school to control her magic. Of course we had to make other arrangements for her. But even then, we made every effort to make you feel special."

"Your father's right," said Mary. "We got you into the best school we could afford, went to every school function, supported every decision you've made to the fullest of our ability. And yet you seem determined to blame Lily for something she had no control over and you have no evidence we ever did to you."

"That's the whole reason we had this dinner," said Michael. "We were hoping you'd see that witches and wizards aren't that much different from anyone else."

"Well, you failed," said Petunia, standing up suddenly. "Come on Vernon, we're leaving." Without waiting for a response, Petunia had grabbed her purse and was marching out the door, not that Vernon was far behind her.

James turned to Lily, and saw she was barely holding back tears. "Lily, are you o…" started James, as Lily pushed away from the table and ran towards an outdoor section of the restaurant, that was empty during the winter. "Apparently not."

"Oh dear," said Mary. "It's always been like this, even before Petunia knew Lily had her magic. She's always had this idea that we had Lily because we didn't love her enough, even when we do everything to show her otherwise."

"There's just no helping that girl," said Michael. "Twenty-four years, and she still thinks the world revolves around her."

"I'm gonna go talk to Lily," said James, excusing himself from the table. James heading out into the cold, and quietly sat down next to Lily. "Hey, uh…you doing okay?"

"Why?" asked Lily, who was fighting back tears. "Why does she hate me?"

"Honestly? I have no idea," said James. "You've done nothing wrong, tried everything to be a good sister, and she still hates you for reasons I can't even begin to comprehend. I don't know a lot about sibling relationships, but I don't think this is how they should go."

"Oh James," said Lily, sliding closer to him. "Thank you for being here, even when my sister was kind of…you know…"

"No problem," said James, putting his arm around her shoulder. The two of them continued to sit in silence for a few more minutes in the cold until Michael called them back inside to go home.


	27. Losing Something Precious

Chapter 27: Losing Something Precious

"James, I don't understand what we're doing," said Remus, following behind his friend. "We finished the map, we don't need to keep doing this."

"TECHNICALLY, it's finished," correct James. "Anywhere we can get to is on the map. But there are a few places we haven't found ways to get to yet. Don't you want to include them on the map?"

"I get it," said Sirius, sneaking along behind them. "But I do have one question: why should we bother? We have two months before we're done here."

"And we're the only ones who know how to open the map," added Peter. "Basically, in two months, all the map's going to be is a scrap of parchment."

"Which is why we leave it at school," said James. "I charmed the map so that it will sense the will of anyone attempting to use it, and as long as they're a fellow troublemaker, the map will help them work out how to use it."

"What didn't you do to that map?" asked Remus, as they rounded a corner into the fifth-floor corridor.

"You know, that's not important," said James. "Come on, we're here. Let's see what we can find."

"We've been all over this place," said Sirius. "There's nothing here. It's just a random cold spot."

"But why?" asked James. "Even if it's just a spell, surely we'd find something. We need to figure it out."

"I doubt we will," said Remus.

"Yeah, what makes you think we'll have more luck this…" said Peter, starting to lean against the wall. Unfortunately, the wall was further back than he thought, so he fell backwards and hit the wall. "Ow."

"Did you hear that?" asked James.

"James, are you trying to ignore when I hurt myself now?" asked Peter.

"No, I heard something BECAUSE you hurt yourself," said James, knocking his fist against the wall. "It's hollow."

"So? Do you expect all the walls to be solid stone?" asked Remus.

"But in a spot where there's a mysterious cold spot?" asked James. "Is it so farfetched that there's something here?"

"He's making sense," said Sirius. "I think we should…" Whatever Sirius was about to say was cut off by a meowing coming from the end of the corridor. "Don't tell me…"

"Mrs. Lewis, have you found someone?" called Filch, still out of sight.

"Damn it, everyone under the cloak," said James, lifting it up so they could all scramble under it. Unfortunately, with all of them being much taller than they used to be, they only just managed to fit under.

"Who have we got here?" asked Filch as he came around the corner. When he saw no-one, he frowned a little. "Hiding won't help you now," he said, slowly walking down the corridor towards them.

The boys collectively held their breath as Filch got close to the group and stopped. 'Did he see us?' thought Sirius, wondering what he was doing.

"What's this?" asked Filch, bending down and picking up a piece of parchment on the floor. The boys watched in shock and horror as Filch picked up the Marauders Map. "Kids leaving their rubbish around? Straight to the bin with this then."

As he said this, words suddenly start appearing on the Map. "What's this?" asked Filch. "Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Mr. Filch, but would he please shut his horrifically misshapen mouth. Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Mr. Filch is a nightmare to look at. Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that Mr. Filch can work at a magical school without magic. Mr. Wormtail bids Mr. Filch good day, and to retire while he still has some hair." By the time he'd finished reading, Mr. Filch looked beyond furious. "Well, this is getting confiscated, until I can find who these students are." Filch spun around and quickly made his way back to his office, Mrs. Lewis right behind him.

The boys waited for another minute or so, just in case Filch came back, before finally getting out from under the cloak. "What the hell?" asked Sirius. "I thought one of you had grabbed the map."

"So did I," said Peter, noticeably freaking out. "We worked so hard on that thing. Now Filch has it, and it's going to be pretty hard to get back."

"All according to plan," said James, causing the others to stop and stare at him.

"What are you talking about?" asked Remus. "We LOST the map."

"Exactly," said James. "Two months from now, we are going to leave this place, possibly forever. What would the map be used for then?"

"But who's going to get the map now?" asked Peter. "Filch has it locked up, no-one's going to find it."

"I have confidence it'll be found by someone who knows what to do with it," said James. "After all, who's more likely to find it now than someone who gets in trouble?"

The others paused as they considered this. "In a weird way, that makes sense," said Remus. "I don't agree, but it makes sense."

"Exactly, Remus gets it," said James. "Come on, let go to bed."

"Am I the only one wondering when James made the map be able to insult Filch like that?" asked Peter, before noticing the others were already leaving.


	28. The Dark Path

Chapter 28: The Dark Path

Peter arrived at the destination not long after midnight, clutching his bag full of all the information he could find. Sadly, it wasn't much, but Peter had managed to go through every single book in the library that might have had information. If there was any more information, it wasn't at Hogwarts.

Peter wasn't too worried about getting caught. He was in a fairly isolated area, and hadn't had a lot of contact with the others since they'd graduated two months ago. There'd been a couple of letters, but Peter hadn't mentioned anything about this meeting to anyone. Patricia had been insistent on keeping this secret.

Peter had just made it up a small hill when he saw something that made him stop dead. Or rather, someone: Severus Snape was standing in front of him, seemingly waiting for someone too. His back was facing Peter, and he didn't seem to have taken much notice of who or what was behind him, so Peter backed up and hid.

'What the hell is Severus doing here?' Peter thought to himself. 'There's no way Patricia asked him to come, she didn't like him much either. She would never have invited him. How would he know to come here?' Peter kept peeking out from his hiding spot, hoping Severus would move on, but he stayed perfectly in place.

After about five minutes of waiting, Peter was about ready to give up on Severus leaving when he saw her. It had been about four years since the two had seen each other, but it was definitely her. And she was walking straight up to Severus. 'Great, she'll get rid of him,' thought Peter, when something unexpected happened.

"Severus, I'm so glad you could make it tonight," said Patricia, and actually sounded like she meant it. "Any sign of Peter yet?"

"I think he's hiding behind that tree there," said Snape, turning to face the spot where Peter was hiding.

"Come on Peter, come on out," called Patricia. "It's okay, he won't hurt you."

"Don't be so sure," Peter heard Snape mutter as he came out of his hiding spot.

"Patricia, hey," said Peter, unsure how to greet his old friend, especially given tonight's revelation. "I was under the impression we would be alone."

"And I was under the impression I'd be meeting someone else," said Snape. "Apparently we have both been misled."

"Aww, don't be like that," said Patricia. "I'm here to try and end a little of the animosity between the two of you."

"You really think you can end seven years of hatred in one night?" asked Peter.

"I said a little," said Patricia. "Besides, we're all here for the same reason, so we should be able to work together."

"I doubt that," said Peter. "I don't think Snape knows about the…things."

"And I highly doubt that Peter knows about why I'm here," said Snape.

"And would either of you have come here tonight knowing the other would be here?" asked Patricia. Neither of them spoke up. "That's what I thought."

"Then why are we both here?" asked Severus.

"And do I really have to work with him?" asked Peter.

"Hey, look, my master was looking for more people to help him, and Peter's research into the Cursed Vaults makes him invaluable," said Patricia. "And Severus, you know many of the people my master works with. You're even friends with a few of them. I daresay you even agree with some of their principles."

"…okay, I'm lost," said Severus. "What are these Cursed Vaults? Who's this master you serve? Which of my friends are you referring to?"

Patricia smiled wickedly. "Maybe I should start from the beginning," she said. "I'm sure you've both heard of Lord Voldemort?"

**Author's note: And…that's where I'm gonna leave it, since I believe you're all familiar enough with the characters to know where this is going. Thank you so much for reading this, and now, I get to go back to Harry Potter Abridged.**


End file.
